You mentioned "flex lines have a much better track record now than they did ten years ago" and I think that's fair, but I'd also point out that a lot of that improvement is because manufacturers changed the rubber compound in the liner after a bunch of failures in the 2000s. The thing nobody seems to talk about though is installation torque. I've seen more flex line failures from people overtightening them with a wrench instead of hand tightening plus a quarter turn. That crushes the rubber liner at the fitting and it cracks from the inside out years before it should. Your mileage may vary but I always tell folks to read the instructions that come with the braided lines, not just wing it.

Interesting take! I actually think season 5 works better than people give it credit for. The newspaper stuff with McNulty faking the serial killer felt really true to how real investigations get messed up. Plus the budget forced them to focus on the media angle, which was always part of Simon's plan anyway. Those 13 episodes are tight but they hit hard.

Those vintage maps probably smell amazing mixed with the glue too lol.

Sure, blame it on the backyard BBQ (like the grill has a hidden agenda, right?). Next you'll be telling me the hot dogs were actually coded messages from NASA. But seriously, a full second gap? That's like a director leaving a boom mic in the shot and saying "it's fine." Maybe they were just trying to sync up the barbecue timer with the moon walk footage, but it's a weird little glitch.

Oh man the pole sander thing hits home, I finally switched after years of fighting with a hand sander and my neck is so much happier now. For real though on the screws, I've been using the self-tapping ones on my last two ceiling jobs and they just grab so much better than nails ever did, plus you can actually feel when they're set right.