The food court at Southdale in Edina is a total ghost town now

I swung by Southdale Center last weekend to see what was left, and the food court was honestly sad. Out of 12 stalls, only 3 were open - a Sbarro, a Chinese place nobody was at, and a pretzel stand. There were like 8 people total sitting in a space built for 300. This was the first fully enclosed mall in America, and now it just feels like a hallway with a few stores. Has anyone else noticed suburban malls gutting their food courts first before the rest goes downhill?

Vent: Bought a cheap camera scope for inspections

Wasted $150 on a knockoff brand that fogged up after two uses. Now I have to buy a proper one anyway. Anyone have a reliable model they use under $400?

I just realized I've walked my dog 1,000 miles on the Lakewood park paths

I was looking at my step tracker history and the total surprised me. It made me appreciate how much of the city I've seen just by sticking to a routine. Anyone else have a local habit that added up to something unexpected?

PSA: Watch for sinkholes in the old parking lot at the Northgate Mall in Binghamton

I was out there last weekend scouting the old Sears anchor and stepped right into a collapsed storm drain grate. My whole leg went in up to the knee, and I was alone. I managed to pull myself out, but my boot is wrecked and my ankle is still sore. The asphalt around those old drains is just crumbling away. Has anyone else found dangerous spots like that at Northgate or other sites?

The week our 30-year-old sand muller finally quit for good

We were trying to hit a big order for 500 custom flanges, and the old beast just seized up with a sound like a bag of wrenches. The boss had to rent a mobile unit for three days while we waited on parts, and the whole floor schedule fell apart. Anyone else have a core piece of gear die at the worst possible time, and what did you do to get back on track?

My cat, Mochi, spent an entire Tuesday last week just sitting and staring at the same corner of the living room ceiling. She wouldn't even look at her favorite feather toy!

Warning: I started using a cheap USB microscope for board inspection and it's a total game changer.

I was struggling to spot a cracked capacitor on a laptop motherboard from a local school district. Borrowed a $60 model from a friend, and the clarity made the fault obvious in seconds. What other affordable tools have you guys found that punch way above their weight?

Question about choosing between a 2-person and 3-person tent for solo use

I picked the 3-person Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL3 for my solo trips (after a miserable, rainy weekend in the Adirondacks where my old 2-person felt like a coffin), and the extra space for my pack and to just move around has been totally worth the 8-ounce weight penalty, so has anyone else gone bigger for comfort and been happy with it?

My uncle told me to start with C back in 2010, and I'm glad I didn't listen.

He said it would teach me 'real programming' and everything else would be easy, but I got stuck on pointers for months and almost quit. I switched to Python a year later and actually built a small web scraper in about two weeks. Did anyone else get really bad first language advice that set them back?

The checkout line at the Walmart on Route 9 just stopped making sense for a full minute

Everything went silent and the cashier froze mid-scan, then suddenly she was three items ahead like nothing happened. Has anyone else had a time skip like that in a store?