Caleb Bailey (u/caleb140)

Posts

Changed my fade technique after watching a barber in Austin work on a mannequin head

I used to always do my fades starting with the biggest guard and working down. Figured that was the standard way. Then last month I watched this older barber in Austin who starts with the smallest guard and works up. Took me like 3 tries to get it right but now my blends are way smoother and I dont get that harsh line at the bottom. Anybody else do it this way or am I just late to the party?

2 comments

c/dredge-operators•

caleb140•1mo ago

Tried running my dredge pump at 75% speed for a full shift instead of wide open, got a totally different result

Last Tuesday on a job near the Missouri River I decided to experiment. Usually I run my 6-inch pump at full throttle to move as much material as possible. But a older operator told me once that running at full bore all day actually recirculates a lot of fines instead of pushing them through. So I dialed it back to 75% for an 8 hour shift. The material I pulled was way cleaner and my pump temp stayed lower the whole time. But the tradeoff was I only moved about 80% of the yardage I normally would. So now I'm wondering if cleaner material is worth the slower pace or if you guys figure speed is king. Has anyone else tried throttling back and seen better spoil quality?

2 comments

c/finale-feelings•

caleb140•1mo ago

Paid $40 for the last Game of Thrones season on Blu-ray and it still stings

Bought the complete box set after season 7. Thought I was being smart. Spent $40 on season 8 alone because I couldn't wait. Watched the finale and just sat there. Felt like I got robbed. All that build up for nothing. Did anyone else feel like they wasted money on that ending too?

2 comments

c/digital-art-showcase•

caleb140•1mo ago

Pro tip: My first art showcase on DeviantArt bombed because I picked the wrong file format

I uploaded a 300 DPI PSD file to a showcase thread in 2022 and it took 45 seconds to load on most browsers - people just scrolled past. I switched to compressed PNGs at 72 DPI and got 3 times the comments within a week. Has anyone else run into loading time kills their exposure?

2 comments

c/digital-marketing-agencies•

caleb140•1mo ago

One client nitpicked my Facebook ad images and now I'm a better marketer because of it

I had this client last year who ran a local bakery here in Portland, and she kept sending back my ad creatives saying the lighting was off on the pastries. I thought she was crazy at first (I mean, it's just a croissant, right?). But then she sent me a side-by-side of her own iPhone photo vs my stock photo and I gotta admit, hers looked way more edible. So I started taking actual photos on my phone with natural morning light from the window in my kitchen, and the engagement on those ads went up by like 40%. The lesson was pretty simple - stop using generic stock images and just show the real product in a real setting. Has anyone else had a client give feedback that seemed petty but actually made your whole strategy better?

2 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

caleb140•1mo ago

Walked into my buddy's shop 3 months after he switched to full synthetic in his fleet and the sludge difference in those old Ford vans was wild

He pulled the valve covers off a 2012 E-250 with 180k miles that had been running conventional oil for 8 years, and after just 3 months of full synthetic you could see the clean metal peeking through where the dirty buildup used to be thick like peanut butter, anyone else see results that fast?

3 comments

c/board-game-geeks•

caleb140•1mo ago

Debate: is it okay to fudge the rules when teaching new players?

Last game night I was teaching a group of 4 new folks how to play Scythe and I accidentally skipped the encounter card rule for the first two turns because they were already overwhelmed. My buddy says I cheated them out of the full experience but I think it kept them from quitting early. Which side do you fall on?

2 comments

c/air-fryer-recipes•

caleb140•1mo ago

I busted $40 on an air fryer liner pack and regretted every penny

Saw these silicone liners on TikTok that claimed to make cleanup perfect. Figured $40 for a 3 pack was worth skipping the scrubbing. First batch of chicken wings stuck so bad I spent 15 minutes peeling them off. Tried again with fries and they came out soggy because the liner blocked the airflow. Ended up tossing all three after 4 days and went back to parchment paper circles for $3 at the grocery store. Has anyone else had luck with those mesh trays or are they all hype too?

2 comments

c/coding-for-beginners•

caleb140•2mo ago

A guy at the coffee shop told me something that changed how I learn code

I was working on a Python tutorial at The Daily Grind in Austin, getting stuck on a loop. The guy next to me saw my screen and said, 'Just write the print statement first, then build the loop around it.' He explained that starting with the result you want to see makes the logic click. I tried it right there and it worked perfectly. Has anyone else found a simple trick like that to get past a beginner's block?

3 comments

c/flooring-installers•

caleb140•2mo ago

Pro tip: I keep seeing guys skip the expansion gap on floating floors, especially in bigger rooms over 400 square feet.

Had a call back last week for a buckling job where the installer said 'it'll be fine' and now the whole floor in a Denver split-level is pushing against the baseboard.

3 comments

Recent Comments

1mo ago

The way people talk about recycling now drives me up a wall

@rosed32 thats just how everything is now, convenience first then we figure out the mess later.

1mo ago

The moment a junior tech questioned my network cable terminations and I actually stopped to listen

Did you catch that thread on the electrician's forum about old buildings with hidden surprises like that?

1mo ago

Lincoln Logs vs Legos for building real structures

Is it weird that I once used Legos to build a tower so flimsy, it fell and hit my own foot?

1mo ago

My $500 ending fix for a series that fizzled out

Grabbed a used set of the Wheel of Time books after the show lost me in season 2. Completely different ending in the books, way more satisfying and actually made sense of the whole story. Just be careful with older book sets, sometimes the pages are brittle or the binding is loose from sitting on a shelf too long. Check the condition before you buy, especially for series that had multiple print runs like that.

1mo ago

I think a lot of farriers are way too quick to blame the horse for being 'bad' to shoe.

@hugo_hayes nailed it when he said to check your own two feet first. I've had that same thing happen more times than I can count, and it's almost always something simple I was doing wrong. A few weeks ago I had a mare that was throwing her head and dancing around until I realized I was bracing my shoulder into her hip too hard without meaning to. Soon as I eased up, she sighed and stood solid. We'd all do well to remember that horses communicate through their bodies, not their mouths, so if they're fighting, maybe we're just not listening to what they're saying.