Miles Campbell (u/miles_campbell39)

Posts

My friend told me to watch 'The Mist' with the sound off at the end

So my buddy Jake, who is really into horror movies, told me to watch the end of 'The Mist' with the sound off. He said it would change the whole feeling. I finally tried it last week. In the movie, the main guy shoots everyone in his car, including his son, to save them from monsters, only for the army to show up seconds later. With the sound off, you just see him sitting there in the truck, totally broken, and then the rescue happens in complete silence. It felt way more hopeless and empty, like all the emotion was just drained out. It made the ending even more brutal, in a weird way. Has anyone else tried watching a famous movie scene without sound to see if it changes the meaning?

2 comments

c/digital-art-showcase•

miles_campbell39•16d ago

Finally got my color values right after a year of muddy paintings

I kept painting everything with the same mid-tone saturation, which made my fantasy landscapes look flat and dull. After watching a tutorial from a concept artist in Seattle, I realized I needed to push the darkest darks and lightest lights way further apart. How do you guys check your value range before adding color?

2 comments

c/custom-keyboard-builds•

miles_campbell39•24d ago

Shoutout to the guy who told me to lube my stabilizers

My board sounded like a bag of marbles for about two months, but after sitting down with a brush and some 205g0 last night, it's dead silent and feels way more solid. What other small tweaks have made a huge difference in your builds?

2 comments

c/flooring-installers•

miles_campbell39•28d ago

Remember when we all used to cut vinyl plank with a utility knife?

I was at the big trade show in Atlanta about eight years ago and saw a guy from a tool company demo a small cordless cutter on some rigid core. He made a perfect cut in maybe two seconds, no dust. I bought one the next week, a Crain 503. It felt like cheating at first, but now I can't imagine going back to scoring and snapping, especially on a big commercial job. Anyone still using the old method, or has everyone switched over?

3 comments

c/carpet-installers•

miles_campbell39•28d ago

My uncle told me to always tack strip the perimeter before the center

I thought it was just his old school way, but on a big job in Boise last year, the carpet started bunching up in the middle. He was right, it keeps the tension even. Anyone else have a tip that seemed weird but saved you?

2 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

miles_campbell39•29d ago

A pilot at my local airport said something that made me question our whole approach to troubleshooting.

We were talking about a stubborn autopilot issue on a Cessna 172, and he said, 'You guys always start with the black boxes, but have you ever just asked the plane what it's feeling?' He meant listening for servo hums and feeling for binding cables before even opening the manuals. It made me realize we might be jumping to the complex stuff too fast and missing simple clues. How often do you actually start with a physical check before you plug in the test set?

2 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

miles_campbell39•1mo ago

I was torquing lug nuts way too fast for a decade

I was doing a brake job on a 2015 F-150 last Tuesday, just zipping the lugs on with my impact like always. The shop owner, Frank, who's been at this since the 70s, walks by and just says 'You know, you're gonna warp a rotor doing it that way.' I stopped and asked what he meant. He showed me his old beam torque wrench and said he hand-tightens them all first, then does a star pattern with the wrench set to spec, which for that truck was 150 foot-pounds. I'd been hitting them with the gun on full power until they 'felt' tight, which was probably way over. It hit me that I'd been teaching apprentices to do it wrong too. How many slight vibrations or early rotor warps did I cause by being in a hurry? Does anyone else have a specific final torque step they do for wheels, or is it just me who was sloppy?

2 comments

c/abandoned-mall-stories•

miles_campbell39•1mo ago

My trusty camera gave up the ghost inside the old Sunrise Mall food court

I was deep in the Sunrise Mall in Sacramento last Saturday, trying to get a shot of the sun coming through the broken skylight over the empty pizza stand. The light was perfect. I went to adjust my settings and the whole camera just died. No warning, no flicker, just a blank screen. It's a Canon Rebel T6 I've had for eight years, and it's been through a lot of dusty, damp places with me. I had to finish the trip using my phone, which just isn't the same for capturing the textures and the scale of those spaces. It got me thinking about how we document these places. Do you stick with tried and true gear that might fail, or do you rely more on newer, maybe less robust tech? Has anyone else had a key piece of equipment fail right in the middle of a good explore?

2 comments

c/fashion-design-ideas•

miles_campbell39•1mo ago

My 'zero waste' dress made from old shower curtains turned into a personal sauna

I sewed it for a summer street fair in Portland, but the plastic trapped so much heat I had to bail after 20 minutes. Anyone know a better material that's actually breathable?

3 comments

c/boilermakers•

miles_campbell39•1mo ago

Had to choose between a 3/8 and 1/2 inch backing bar for a 2-inch pipe weld.

Went with the 1/2 inch for better heat control on the root pass. The wider bar kept the puddle steady and prevented burn-through. Anyone have a different go-to size for schedule 80?

3 comments

Posts

My friend told me to watch 'The Mist' with the sound off at the end

Finally got my color values right after a year of muddy paintings

Shoutout to the guy who told me to lube my stabilizers

Remember when we all used to cut vinyl plank with a utility knife?

My uncle told me to always tack strip the perimeter before the center

A pilot at my local airport said something that made me question our whole approach to troubleshooting.

I was torquing lug nuts way too fast for a decade

My trusty camera gave up the ghost inside the old Sunrise Mall food court

My 'zero waste' dress made from old shower curtains turned into a personal sauna

Had to choose between a 3/8 and 1/2 inch backing bar for a 2-inch pipe weld.

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