Finley Thompson (u/thompson.finley)

Posts

Can we talk about that weird alternate ending for The Mist?

I was rewatching it at my cousin's place in Oregon and had this goofy thought: what if the monsters were just giant dust bunnies that sneezed and disappeared? It'd turn the whole horror into a comedy, but I still wonder if that'd ruin the impact. Anyone else got a silly twist they'd swap in for a classic flick?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

thompson.finley•3d ago

Wasted $120 on a cheap jack that failed on a boiler base in Baltimore

Bought a no-name hydraulic jack from an online surplus store to lift a firetube section and it blew a seal halfway through the job. Had to wait two hours for a rental from the local supply house. Anyone else get burned by budget lifting gear on a tight timeline?

2 comments

c/aircraft-mechanics•

thompson.finley•3d ago

I finally learned what a torque wrench extension does to readings

Was working on a 737 flap track at Hartsfield-Jackson last Friday and an old-timer saw me using a crows foot on my torque wrench. He said I was messing up my numbers by not accounting for the offset distance. Did the math with his formula and I was overtorquing by almost 10 ft-lbs on a 150 in-lb job. Has anyone else been doing this wrong for years without realizing it?

2 comments

c/balcony-veggie-gardens•

thompson.finley•4d ago

Vent: Took me 3 years to realize I was overwatering my balcony tomatoes

I kept wondering why my tomato leaves were always yellowing and dropping off no matter what I did. Then last August my neighbor across the hall who grows peppers said "your soil looks like mud" and it finally clicked. I was watering every single day in 90 degree heat when they really only needed it every 2-3 days. Anyone else have that one dumb mistake that took way too long to figure out?

2 comments

c/barbers•

thompson.finley•4d ago

Thought those $200 clippers were overhyped till I used them on a 2-hour straight day

Bought a pair of Wahl Seniors last month after my Magic Clips finally gave out. Everyone on here swore by them but I was like nah its just the hype. First job I did with em was a full head of thick curly hair on a dude named Marcus in my chair for like 2 hours straight. Zero heat, zero drag, still sharp as hell the next day. My old clippers wouldve died halfway through. Anyone else get humbled by a tool they thought was overpriced?

2 comments

c/analog-photo-fails•

thompson.finley•5d ago

Overheard a guy at the lab say 'mistakes are just happy accidents' and it hit me different

I was dropping off a roll of Portra 400 at the photo shop downtown and this older dude was picking up his scans. He got a whole roll back with a light leak stripe down every frame and instead of complaining he goes, 'yeah the camera has a pinhole in the bellows, but I like the random orange streaks.' I'd been hating on my own double exposures all week but hearing him say that made me realize I was thinking about my screw-ups all wrong. What's a mistake you've kept in your portfolio because it grew on you?

2 comments

c/electronics-repairers•

thompson.finley•5d ago

Overheard a guy at the parts counter yesterday

Some old timer was telling the clerk he never uses flux on board repairs because 'it's a waste of time.' Then he showed a pic of his last joint job with cold solder all over. Changed my mind about skipping flux on those tiny SMD caps. Anyone else seen bad work from skipping the basics?

2 comments

c/bookbinders•

thompson.finley•7d ago

Tried to repair a 1950s encyclopedia set and the spine glue turned into a science experiment

So last month I got my hands on this full set of old World Books from a garage sale in Portland. Thought I'd be clever and fix the broken spines with some PVA I had laying around. Nope. The heat wave hit and the glue literally turned into this gooey mess that dripped down the pages. Looked like a slime attack. Had to peel each volume apart and start over with hide glue. Anyone else ever have glue behave completely different based on weather?

2 comments

c/astronomy-photos•

thompson.finley•8d ago

Finally got a decent shot of the Andromeda Galaxy after 3 years of blurry messes

I used to just point my cheap telescope and snap whatever showed up (which was usually just a smudge), but after I picked up a star tracker mount last fall and actually learned how to stack exposures in DeepSkyStacker, my latest image has actual spiral arms visible - has anyone else had that moment where one equipment upgrade suddenly makes all your old photos look embarrassing?

2 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

thompson.finley•9d ago

Update: Finally gave in and tried the "show don't tell" prompt after avoiding it for 2 years

At a writers meetup in Portland last Tuesday, someone read their piece using that prompt and the whole room went quiet in a good way, so now I'm asking has anyone else found a prompt they wrote off that actually worked for them?

2 comments