No, I thought the really thin dish towels were called "lint free". They weren't made of plastic and weren't microfiber cloth. They were more like the thickness of a t-shirt than a towel. They just didn't have the fluff that makes towels so thick.

The slower heating allows heat to leak out while you're not using the pan because it's not hot enough yet, and I'd bet a rag is at least a couple mm thick and would reduce the heating speed noticeably, so I'd say it would reduce the efficiency overall by at least 5% if not 10% or 20%. One of those thin lint free towels would be a better choice.

Don't forget when asking "What Would Jesus do?" Flipping over tables and chasing people out is in the cards Matthew 20:12 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021%3A12-13%2CMark%2011%3A15-18&version=NIV

It is discussed weekly throughout the world. It's called church.

I don't think these trap air. Instead, I think it has to do with the "impedance mismatch" between the glass and plastic making the heat not conduct as well. Put simply, heat doesn't conduct well between different materials. Imagine one material is a bunch of marbles bouncing around, and another is a bunch of bowling balls bouncing around. The energy wouldn't transfer well when the marbles and bowling balls hit each other.

Also remember that 1 hour of work also has the extra time you need to feed yourself (so 1 hour lunch for 8 hours work), and you need to add the sleep time (you sleep about 1-1 so 8 hours sleep for 8 hours of work) and the down time. A better approximation is just taking the time and multiplying it by 3 or 4, since we work 1/3 of the time, and you can look at the other time in your day as simply supporting and recovering for your work time. Unless you have flexible hours, then you can literally pick up another hour of work to pay for a meal out.

Life's easier when you know everyone's autopilot is an idiot, and you forgive yourself and others for mistakes. Don't think you can avoid mistakes, but you can prevent and mitigate damage by your mistakes with a bit of preparation. E.G. don't put in the address of who to send an email to until you've double checked the email. Don't store anything in the oven, but check before preheating anyways.