That heat just bakes the electronics and hydraulics in those cranes. First thing, I always keep a spare box fan in the cab for days like that even if the AC is working, and a wet rag on the neck helps a ton. For the oil cooler fan, I've literally rigged a shop vac to blow on the cooler as a temporary fix on an older Terex, it's janky but keeps the machine running long enough to finish the set. @craig.reese is spot on about the Gatorade, but you gotta pre-cool it in a Yeti with ice or it turns into hot syrup by noon in that Houston sun.

I never even thought about heat retention being the secret to speed, I always assumed it was just about getting a nonstick surface from seasoning.

A friend loaned me her old Crock-Pot after mine gave out, and I've had good luck sticking with that brand even for the basic models. Most stores carry the 4-quart version for around $30 and it's been dependable for years now. Preheating the insert on the counter for ten minutes before plugging it in helps avoid those sudden temperature swings.

Oh man, that reminds me of something wild that happened to my friend Jenna last week. She was at the co-op and saw this flyer for a lost cat, so she took a picture of it to post on the neighborhood page. Turns out that flyer had been up for like six months and the cat had been home for ages, but the owner just never took it down. She got like ten messages from people asking if the cat was still missing and it was a whole mess. So yeah, maybe check the dates on those flyers before you believe everything you see there.

Oh boy, I once bought a "vintage" camera that turned out to be filled with someone's old granola.