Tried to repot a cactus and got stabbed 14 times

I was in my backyard last Sunday moving a barrel cactus into a bigger pot. The thing was about the size of a volleyball and looked harmless enough. I grabbed it with some thick gardening gloves and tried to lift it out of the old pot. Turns out the gloves were not thick enough because a spine went right through the fabric and into my thumb. I flinched and dropped the cactus, which then rolled onto my foot and got stuck to my shoe. My wife came out and laughed so hard she could barely breathe. I ended up using a pair of tongs and a folded up towel to finally get it into the new pot. I counted the puncture wounds later and had 14 little holes in my hands and arms. Anyone else have a plant fight back harder than expected?

Had to pick between Copilot and Claude for writing emails and it wasn't close

I run a small cleaning business and needed an AI to help draft customer follow-ups and scheduling messages. Tried Microsoft's Copilot for a week but it kept writing these super formal letters that sounded like a lawyer. Switched to Claude and got cleaner replies that actually matched how I talk to my clients. Has anyone else noticed that some AI tools just don't get the tone right for small biz stuff?

TIL a hairdryer can fix a sticky shutter - anyone else use heat this way?

I had this old Canon AE-1 that had a shutter sticking at slower speeds. The typical advice was to send it out for a CLA or try exercising the shutter for a while. I tried that for maybe 2 weeks with no real change. Then I remembered hearing somewhere that old lubrication can get gummy and a little heat might help. So I set my wife's hairdryer on low and gave the mirror box area a gentle warm up for maybe 3 minutes. The shutter started working perfectly on all speeds after that. It has been a month and it still runs smooth. I know some people will say this is a bad idea because you can melt stuff or move grease where it shouldn't go. But in my experience it saved me a $150 repair bill. Has anyone else tried something like this or am I just getting lucky with a temp fix?

Just realized I misidentified a pottery sherd for 3 years

I was at a site near Santa Fe last month going through old finds from a dig back in 2020. A visiting ceramics specialist picked up a piece I'd labeled as Biscuit ware and said it was actually Piñon ware from a different time period. I had been using the wrong reference guide the whole time. Anyone else had a specialist completely change how you see your own collection?

Overheard a guy at the parts counter say he fixed a weird boot loop by swapping the RAM sticks into different slots.

He was picking up a new power supply, but he said the real fix was just moving the sticks around. I always check seating first, but I guess I never thought to try different slots if they're already in. Has anyone else run into that? Seems like a weird motherboard quirk.

Just blew $300 on a 'pro' mortar mixer that clogged solid on its first real job.