Wait, hold on. A 500-year error bar on a charcoal sample? That's wild. I mean, I knew radiocarbon could be a nightmare but 500 years? That's like saying "this might be from the time of Jesus or maybe it's from the Viking age." I can't believe they even gave you a date with that kind of spread. Honestly, I'd be questioning if the lab did their job right or if your sample got mixed up with something else. Makes you wonder if the whole "science" is just a guessing game sometimes, right?

Right there with you. Sometimes getting called out is the BEST thing that can happen.

That Silver Surfer #4 story really hits home. I had an old timer at a convention in Chicago teach me how to check for staple rust by feel, and it totally changed how I look at books now. Breaks my heart that this kind of hands-on knowledge is fading. Do you think there are still enough people out there willing to pass it on, or are we just watching it disappear?

I actually watched a pretty good video by a sound engineer who tested all kinds of cables blind and the expensive ones failed the test just as much as the cheap ones. He used a proper blind setup with a switcher box so nobody could cheat. The biggest difference he found was just build quality, like the connectors felt sturdier and the outer jacket was thicker, not any magic in the sound. That shop guy probably just got used to his fancy cord and convinced himself it made everything better. Placebo is a strong thing when you drop $80 on a wire, you know?

You said you took move-in photos, but did you also document the condition in writing on the lease?