Can we talk about choosing Python over JavaScript for a first language?

I had to pick between Python and JavaScript when I started learning 8 months ago. I went with Python and honestly it made understanding loops and functions so much easier without dealing with browser quirks. Has anyone else gone the Python route and regretted it later?

I watched a freelancer's whole approach flip in 6 weeks flat

I had a buddy who used to charge $35 for basic logo work and he was always scrambling for gigs. Then he switched to a niche market - pet businesses specifically - and started charging $175 per project. He got 3 clients in the first week after updating his portfolio, and now he's booked out for two months. Has anyone else seen a big change after narrowing their focus like that?

That friend who said to ignore burping my brine was dead wrong

My buddy Mike told me to just screw the lid on tight and forget about it for 3 weeks with my first hot sauce ferment. I followed his advice and on day 12, the jar exploded in my pantry at 2 in the morning. Glass and pepper mash went everywhere, took me an hour to clean up that sticky mess. He swears he's been doing it that way for years without issues, but I lost a whole batch of habanero mash I had going for 2 weeks. Now I burp twice a day and use an airlock like everyone says. Has anyone else had a ferment go wrong from bad advice like this?

Wasted $60 on a 'Masterclass' for Python beginners that was just a sales pitch

Appreciation post: the footnotes in "The Warmth of Other Suns" blew my mind

I'm in a book club that's been debating this book for weeks, and I started digging into the footnotes. Found out that between 1915 and 1970, around 6 million Black people moved from the South to other parts of the US, which is way more than I thought. The author Isabel Wilkerson cites census data and interviews from people in places like Chicago and Los Angeles that she tracked down. Has anyone else found a stat from a nonfiction book that totally shifted how you saw a topic?

Burned my third batch of cookies until I found the oven rack trick

I was getting so mad baking chocolate chip cookies because the bottoms would burn but the tops were still raw. This happened like 4 times in a row last month in my apartment in Austin. I tried lowering the temp to 325 but that just made them flat. Then a friend told me to move the rack to the upper third of the oven instead of the middle. I was skeptical but I tried it on a Saturday night and it worked perfectly. The cookies baked even and the bottoms were golden brown instead of black. Has anyone else had this problem with a smaller electric oven or is it just my crappy Whirlpool?

That old electrician in Birmingham told me to stop using push-in wire connectors, and he was right

So a few months back I was doing some light fixture swaps at my buddy's place near downtown Bham. Had this older guy, probably in his 60s, watching me work on his knob and tube setup. He saw me reach for those push-in Wago style connectors and just shook his head. Said I was asking for trouble with old wiring because the copper gets brittle over time. I kinda brushed him off thinking he was just set in his ways. Well last week I had a ceiling fan start flickering after only 3 months. Pulled it down and sure enough one of the push-in connections had loosened up and arced. Swapped everything over to screw-down wire nuts and it's been solid. Now I'm wondering if I should go back through all my old jobs and switch them out. Has anyone else had push-ins fail on older wiring?

Coworking spaces killed my productivity but nobody wants to admit it

I spent 3 months hopping between trendy coworking spots in Medellin and Chiang Mai and got less done than I did working from a noisy cafe. The constant networking and free beer turned every work session into a social event. Has anyone else found a quiet library or rented room works better for actual focus?

Got told my invoice formatting was confusing, fixed it and got paid faster

Last month a client in Cleveland emailed me saying they couldn't figure out which line items matched their PO numbers. I had been just listing dates and hours without any reference codes. I switched to a simple table with their purchase order numbers in bold and a totals box at the bottom. Next invoice got paid in 4 days instead of the usual 3 weeks. Has anyone else made a small change like that that cut down on payment delays?

Shoutout to the guy at the local art fair who showed me how to layer textures in Clip Studio Paint

I was just walking through the booths at the downtown Portland art walk last Saturday and this artist spent 5 minutes showing me his brush stacking trick, and now my digital paintings actually look like they have depth instead of looking flat like a sticker.