Stumbled on a weird fact about dialogue tags while reading an old writing book

I was flipping through a 1987 copy of "The Writer's Handbook" I found at a library sale in Portland last Tuesday, and it said that over 70% of published authors in that era used only "said" or "asked" as dialogue tags. That surprised me because I've been trying to vary my tags with words like "whispered" or "shouted" to spice things up. Now I'm wondering if sticking to simple tags actually makes the writing smoother for readers. Has anyone else run into advice about keeping tags minimal?

Stopped by a custom shop in Portland and saw a guy using painter's tape on his table saw fence

I was in Portland last week picking up some walnut from a small shop and noticed one of the guys had blue painter's tape along his fence. He said it stops thin offcuts from slipping under the fence when he's ripping strips less than an inch wide. I tried it on my own saw the next day and it actually works. No more burned edges or weird cuts on narrow pieces. Anybody else got a cheap fix like this that changed their workflow?

Picked up a trick from a bakery in Austin that changed my crust game

I was at Easy Tiger in Austin last month and watched their baker dust the counter with rice flour instead of regular flour before shaping. Tried it on my next batch of baguettes and the crust came out way crispier. Has anyone else experimented with different dusting flours for shaping?

Just swapped all my balcony plants to self watering pots and I'm mad I didn't do it sooner

Three weeks ago I went on a 5 day trip to visit my sister in Phoenix and came back to find two of my tomato plants completely wilted on my balcony. I lost about $40 worth of plants and soil because the summer heat here in Austin just cooks everything dry in 24 hours. Switched every pot over to those self watering ones with the reservoir at the bottom, the kind with the fabric wick. Now I only fill up the basin once every 4 days and the plants look way healthier than when I was watering every morning. Has anyone else tried those terracotta spike watering things? I'm thinking about adding them for my hanging baskets.

Watched a teacher turn a boring textbook into a game at a conference in Columbus

I used to think textbooks were just the way you had to do it, no matter how dull. But at the Ohio Education Expo last month, a history teacher showed me how she turned each chapter into a classroom escape room with just index cards and a timer. The students were actually fighting over who got to solve the next clue about the Industrial Revolution. Has anyone else tried making your own lesson games from scratch?

Picked a cast iron pan over non-stick for my first loaf of bread

I had to choose between a cheap non-stick loaf pan and a cast iron skillet for baking my first sourdough last week. Ended up going with the cast iron because I figured it would hold heat better. The bread came out with a crust so thick and crunchy I almost broke a tooth, but the inside was perfect. Anyone else find a cast iron skillet works better for certain breads than a standard pan?

Old cabinetmaker told me to soak my router bits in kerosene overnight

I took his advice (since he had 40 years in the trade) and woke up to the kerosene eating through the plastic router bit case and ruining the bearings. Ended up having to replace 3 bits at $35 each. Anyone else get bad advice from someone who seemed like they knew their stuff?

Went to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Nashville and found a full set of Blum undermount slides for $12

Hot take: guys who over-tighten screws on face frames are making more work for themselves

I saw a guy at the shop yesterday crank his Kreg jig screws so deep the pocket holes mushroomed out, and now he's gotta sand down every joint because the wood split on three cabinets in a row has anyone else dealt with stripped pockets from too much torque?

That $800 used Haas tool setter I bought off eBay was a total waste