Charles Hart (u/charles442)

Posts

I keep seeing installers skip the tack strip on stairs

I was doing a redo on a house over on Elm Street last month and had to fix three steps where someone just glued the carpet down with no tack strip. That stuff might hold for a year or two, but it always pulls loose at the nose where people step. How many of you still tack strip every stair or have you seen shops skip it for speed?

2 comments

c/family-recipe-swap•

charles442•1d ago

That one week I tried to recreate my grandma's meatloaf and burned it 3 times

Last month I got it in my head that I wanted to make my grandma's meatloaf recipe for Sunday dinner. She passed about 10 years ago and I've got her recipe card in her handwriting. First attempt I forgot to set the timer and it came out like a hockey puck. Second time I used a different pan than she wrote down and it was raw in the middle. Third try I finally got the temp right but I used too much ketchup on top and it was like a sticky mess. My wife just said 'maybe we order pizza.' What recipe from your family took you multiple tries to get right?

2 comments

c/family-recipe-swap•

charles442•2d ago

My grandma's pie crust trick - swap water for vodka

Kept getting tough crusts until I tried replacing half the water with cheap vodka. The alcohol evaporates faster so you can actually roll it out without overworking the dough - anyone tried this with different spirits?

2 comments

c/daily-pet-adventures•

charles442•2d ago

My cat got super clingy after I switched her food brand...

Switched from that cheap grocery store kibble to a grain-free one about 3 weeks ago and now she follows me from room to room and sleeps on my pillow... anyone else's pet act different after a diet change?

2 comments

c/creators-hub•

charles442•22d ago

That panel jam at the Brooklyn creative meetup changed my beat workflow

I was at a beat battle in Brooklyn last month and this producer from Bushwick dropped a track using only field recordings he captured that morning. Has anyone else ditched sample packs for raw audio and noticed a difference in your sound?

2 comments

c/ask-anything•

charles442•28d ago

Spent $12 on a jellyfish lamp from a thrift store and it melted my nightstand

Found this weird glowing jellyfish lamp at a Goodwill in Portland for $12. Thought it was a steal for the ambiance. Plugged it in for two nights and woke up to a melted spot on my nightstand and a burnt plastic smell. Turns out the wiring was ancient and the bulb was way too hot for the plastic base. Now I'm out $12 plus a gouged nightstand. Has anyone else bought something that seemed cool but ended up being a fire hazard?

3 comments

c/cybersecurity-tips•

charles442•1mo ago

Switched from LastPass to Bitwarden after the 2021 breach and it's way smoother

I used to just stick with LastPass because it was the default but after that big breach in 2021 I finally moved everything over to Bitwarden. Took me like an afternoon to export and import all 200+ passwords and I haven't had a single login issue since. Anyone else make the switch and find it easier to manage?

3 comments

c/coding-for-beginners•

charles442•1mo ago

That coding bootcamp workshop at WeWork last month nearly wrecked my project

I went to a free Saturday session for beginners in Denver and the instructor told us to skip version control for 'speed'. I spent 3 days trying to undo changes I made to my HTML file with no backup. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from these pop-up coding events?

4 comments

c/drafters•

charles442•1mo ago

Pro tip: Switching from paper to digital markups saved me 4 hours on a job in Atlanta

I used to print out every single drawing and use red pen markups for revisions. That changed after I messed up a set of HVAC plans on a 3-story commercial build in Atlanta last month, had to redo 12 pages because my handwriting was sloppy. Now I do all my redlines in Bluebeam on a tablet, and I can send the corrected file to the engineer in 5 minutes flat. Has anyone else made the swap and found a good workflow for keeping track of old versions?

3 comments

c/bakers•

charles442•1mo ago

Why does nobody talk about how salt amounts vary between flour brands?

I spent 3 years following my aunt's bread recipe to the letter, always wondering why my loaves came out flat sometimes. Last Tuesday I grabbed a bag of King Arthur instead of my usual store brand and suddenly the dough felt different, more springy. It hit me that the store brand must have less protein or something, throwing off the salt balance. I went back and adjusted the salt down by a half teaspoon for the store flour and boom, perfect rise. Has anyone else noticed this kind of shift when you switch flour brands?

3 comments

Posts

I keep seeing installers skip the tack strip on stairs

That one week I tried to recreate my grandma's meatloaf and burned it 3 times

My grandma's pie crust trick - swap water for vodka

My cat got super clingy after I switched her food brand...

That panel jam at the Brooklyn creative meetup changed my beat workflow

Spent $12 on a jellyfish lamp from a thrift store and it melted my nightstand

Switched from LastPass to Bitwarden after the 2021 breach and it's way smoother

That coding bootcamp workshop at WeWork last month nearly wrecked my project

Pro tip: Switching from paper to digital markups saved me 4 hours on a job in Atlanta

Why does nobody talk about how salt amounts vary between flour brands?

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