Things everyone should know about but probably don't.

[Trom]

Originally Posted by MsWhatsit

What a standard deviation from the mean is, and what "statistically significant" means. Well, a lot of other stats stuff too, but we can start there.

Agreed.

Continuing on that theme: correlation is not causation. Also, a basic understanding of cognitive biases would go a long way.

[Zsofia]

Originally Posted by GuanoLad

By staying out of the water my risk of drowning dramatically decreases.

One does not always end up in the water on purpose.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Everyone should know CPR (and how to properly perform a Heimlich, for that matter). And everyone should know how important it is to do it early and do it right.

Everyone should know that deaths do not "come in threes". Well, they do if you divide them up that way. To me, for example, deaths come in seventeens.


mmm

[Dave Hartwick]

Everyone who works with MS Excel beyond just looking at output should understand at least how VLOOKUP works, and preferably OFFSET and MATCH.

[Corcaigh]

Originally Posted by Zsofia

If your instrument panel in your car has a picture of a gas pump and an arrow, the arrow is telling you what side of the car the gas tank is on. You're welcome.

I figured that out, but how do I open the gorram petrol cap?!

Originally Posted by DocCathode

I disagree.

I looked after my Uncle Max (He was in his nineties and had Parkinson's) for years. He was a great short order cook. He was full of interesting stories of how the world used to be.* I always advise people to get to know their elderly relatives. He love women, Jack and coke, and neapolitan ice cream.

I currently work part time as a home health aide to another man with Parkinsons. He's a former English professor and fascinating to talk to.

Well that is not the same situation that I, or many other people who are Carers are in. It's not all about sitting listening to someone reminiscing about the good old days. I have to contend with my mother persistently trying to get me to make tea for her hallucinations, as well as picking her up off the floor when she falls - and she thrashes about when I'm trying to lift her, so she's fucking my back and shoulders up.

I know a woman who's Caree was 'twice the size of her' and she had to lift him in and out of bed without a hoist for several years, before she was finally given a manual hoist that she had to jack up and down herself. He got bedsores and she used to have to turn him over every two hours for months to prevent them getting infected.

Have you seen an infected bedsore?

Or how's about the woman who's father had Dementia and thought she was his girlfriend and tried to sexual assault her?

Or perhaps you find the idea of cleaning up after an elderly person who's doubly incontinent a delight?

Or the elderly person who shits in any receptacle they can find as long as it's not the toilet?

Or the incontinent elderly who hide their soiled clothing and you can't figure out where the smell is coming from?

Or the elderly dementia addled old man who got lost coming home from the shop and was found dead in a field a mile away? They must have been such fun searching for him.

[GuanoLad]

Originally Posted by Zsofia

One does not always end up in the water on purpose.

Often in those cases, floods and tsunamis for example, ability to swim is meaningless.

I also stay away from the edges of cliffs, from burning buildings, and from lions. But one day they may be the cause of my death. Oh well, gotta die of something.

[Tristan]

The basics of a computer, and the basics of working with a computer. The different between "logging off" and actually rebooting, what click and drag means, such things like that.

Hell, I think it should be a mandatory class for Jr. High kids.

[dnooman]

Originally Posted by GuanoLad

By staying out of the water my risk of drowning dramatically decreases.

Ok, so you missed the Tool reference, but some day the water may come to you. Hence the Tool reference.

Not intentionally going into water does not preclude you actually being immersed in water at some point, by choice or not. Flooding happens to the point where non-swimmers may die, pools are everywhere, and any international travel usually involves being over water at some point.

Learning to swim is a basic survival skill, regardless of when or if you may ever use it. I personally find it shocking when people say they can't swim.

[dnooman]

Originally Posted by Dave Hartwick

Everyone who works with MS Excel beyond just looking at output should understand at least how VLOOKUP works, and preferably OFFSET and MATCH.

Can you expound on this? I use Excel every day, but I never get deep into complicated formulas or any of the other super-user features. I'm pleased enough when I can truncate a number, or use a keyboard shortcut to insert today's date.

[Namkcalb]

Originally Posted by Locrian

Barack Obama is an American.

I think most of us already know that, but the question is, what kind of american is he?
Is he a god-hating Muslim communist from the northern People's Republic of Canuckstan
or
Is he a Drug pushing gangster from the southern Narcorepublic of Mexico, who spends his every waking minute trying to work out how to nanny away hard-working true Americans' booze and tobacco.

[Martin Hyde]

Americans need to know how the stock and bond markets work, at least at some functional level. Unless you believe an employer-sponsored pension plan + social security will cover 100% of your expenses in retirement (and this is a super rare situation unless you're a well paid government employee or someone who is lucky enough to have a high paying job in one of the few private companies that still operate pensions) then that means you're most likely making contributions to a 401k or an individual IRA account.

For most middle class Americans these investment vehicles are supposed to be how you're going to pay for your retirement. Yet many Americans make some paltry contribution to their workplace savings plan and never even properly allocate their balances, some even just let all of it accrue in company stock even when they could change their investment elections or rebalance them. These same people who get to age 55-60 and start thinking about retirement, and are hit by a sudden market downturn will wish dearly they know about equities vs bonds and how your asset allocation at that age needs to be different than it was at 25.

I think 401ks and such are mostly a failed experiment, people have shown they cannot handle them. Either they are improperly diversified, lack the discipline to contribute the amounts they need throughout their career, or think nothing of taking loans out or even big withdrawals and paying the penalty whenever it suits them.

[dnooman]

Originally Posted by Locrian

Barack Obama is an American.

True. He is an American. In fact he is the highest American in the land.

Is he a "Real American"? He will have to fight Hulk Hogan in some sort of ridiculous battle in order to find out.

[Derleth]

Originally Posted by dnooman

True. He is an American. In fact he is the highest American in the land.

Is he a "Real American"? He will have to fight Hulk Hogan in some sort of ridiculous battle in order to find out.

And he'll never be a "Real American Hero" until he gets an MOS and a goofy nickname related to it.

[Dave Hartwick]

Originally Posted by dnooman

Can you expound on this? I use Excel every day, but I never get deep into complicated formulas or any of the other super-user features. I'm pleased enough when I can truncate a number, or use a keyboard shortcut to insert today's date.

People I've worked with occasionally found VLOOKUP confusing, and sometimes any function beyond SUM and arithmetic. VLOOKUP allows you to skip a lot of manual searching, provided your list has a decent identifier, which can often be a combination of two different columns.

OFFSET and MATCH have handy uses of their own, but can be combined to look up data not only to the right of the identifier column, which is a limitation of VLOOKUP, but lets you look at different column and row combinations-- ranges-- based on variables.

[Isamu]

Originally Posted by Eve

Gray does not go with beige. I don't care if they are both "neutrals."

The other day I had beige trousers on and then I put on a medium gray sweater, looked in the mirror and said to myself "why does this look so bad?" Oh, yeah, its because I now look like a piece of naval lint!

[terentii]

Originally Posted by Isamu

The other day I had beige trousers on and then I put on a medium gray sweater, looked in the mirror and said to myself "why does this look so bad?" Oh, yeah, its because I now look like a piece of naval lint!

USN or RN?

[Crafter_Man]

Originally Posted by MsWhatsit

What a standard deviation from the mean is, and what "statistically significant" means. Well, a lot of other stats stuff too, but we can start there.

I work with engineers, and am amazed at how so few of them have heard of the Student's t-distribution. I have to explain to them that they should be using it when they have small sample sizes.

Also, it would seem quite a few researchers have never heard of the Null Hypothesis.

[Crafter_Man]

Everyone should know how to use Excel. Am amazed so many people still crunch numbers using a handheld calculator.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Red Cross First Aid & CPR.

How to use a map & compass

Basic firearms safety/use.

Elementary critical thinking.

[cochrane]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

Why should everyone know about atlatls? How many people use spears or darts these days? Now, if someone is interested in primitive weapons, either as a hobby or as part of his/her profession, yes, knowledge of those things is essential. Otherwise, well, it's interesting to think about at times, but really, when was the last time you NEEDED to know about them?

I think it's more important to know about compound interest, myself.

Two contestants on this season's Top Shot competed in the elimination challenge with atlatls. It was actually a very interesting competition.

[etv78]

Originally Posted by cochrane

Two contestants on this season's Top Shot competed in the elimination challenge with atlatls. It was actually a very interesting competition.

Thanks for explaining that word! I kept thinking it was a typo for "atlas".

[Lynn Bodoni]

Originally Posted by cochrane

Two contestants on this season's Top Shot competed in the elimination challenge with atlatls. It was actually a very interesting competition.

Yes, the knowledge came in handy for them, in a specific circumstance. However, in my 54 years on this planet, I've never NEEDED to know about atlatls, other than reading about them in one of Jean Auel's books.

[flodnak]

Originally Posted by Zsofia

Oh, and your box of aluminum foil or parchment paper or whatnot has little tabs you can fold in to keep the roll in place when you pull out the end.

If you have trouble opening a jar, the trick is to break the seal, not to strain yourself trying to twist ever harder. You can buy a special tool for this (the most popular brand name is JarKey), but a knife will do the trick just fine, too.

In US measurements, four tablespoons is exactly the same as a quarter cup. (And if you're converting American recipes to metric, a quarter cup of butter is very close to 50g. But I suspect this tip has a more limited audience.)

If you scald milk by accident, you can clean the pan by gently heating water with a tiny bit of dish soap in the pan, while you scrape the bottom with a metal spoon or spatula. Of course, if you scald the milk in a non-stick or cast iron pan, you've got a problem....

[Gukumatz]

Parents should be required by law to tell their children about the term "muscle memory" if they go into sports.

[Nymiir]

What the 'on/off' symbol on computers and almost every other electrical device looks like.

How to get out of a rip (ocean, river, whatever).

How to float (it's really not that hard...)

How to read.

How to pay attention to your surroundings. I know this one sounds obvious, but I work in a department store that has a fitting room, and the sheer number of people who walk straight in, ignoring me at my counter (why is there a counter, or an attendant, if you aren't supposed to stop? Is the company really going to pay me when they don't need me?) and walk down the wrong corridor.
There are signs, saying the way for womens and the way for mens, but they always go the wrong way. It drives me absolutely mad. I nearly hit a woman once.
How do these people cross a road without being flattened by a car? They obviously don't look where they're going. Basic common sense, people. Please.

[kayaker]

Originally Posted by Zsofia

One does not always end up in the water on purpose.

Tell me about it.

[limegreen]

How to cook basic, simple food from scratch.

[Astroboy14]

Originally Posted by Isamu

Who their real father is.

Luke??

[notfrommensa]

I think everyone should understand the basic US Income tax forms. They are not that complicated.

[Mewl Dear]

I would think remembering you started a thread woud be up there.

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by notfrommensa

I think everyone should understand the basic US Income tax forms. They are not that complicated.

Why on earth would I need to understand basic US Income Tax forms?

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Originally Posted by notfrommensa

I think everyone should understand the basic US Income tax forms. They are not that complicated.

<SLAPS notfrommensa>

And not with a wet trout, either!

[PlainJain]

Originally Posted by Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor

How to use a map & compass

Although this sounds logical, how many people even have a compass?

[monstro]

How to make friends.

How to be a good conversationalist.

How to have grace under pressure.

How to assert yourself.

How to argue well.

How to figure out stuff that you don't know. (Sometimes it involves asking others for help and sometimes it doesn't).

How to keep yourself pre-occupied when no one is around.

How to stay sane when things don't work out the way you thought they would.

[etv78]

monstro: a corrollary to #1, how to be a friend.

[Kenm]

Originally Posted by dnooman

Telling someone you don't have a FB page is like telling them you don't have a SSN.

I and millions upon millions of others have neither, so if you had tried to figure the odds, you'd be even more wrong.

[Rhythmdvl]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

Why on earth would I need to understand basic US Income Tax forms?

Resistance is futile.

[carnut]

How to listen.

How to read.

How to recognize poisonous plants.

[Lord Mondegreen]

Originally Posted by nivlac

... our sun is one star among hundreds of billions in our galaxy, and there are hundreds of billions of other galaxies!

As a corollary, everyone should know that we need to pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, because there's bugger all down here on Earth.

[Machine Elf]

On the lighter side:
how to pour ketchup from a newly-opened bottle. The classic technique involves inverting the bottle and slapping its bottom to drive the ketchup toward the exit. This technique sucks. The better way? hold the bottle by its bottom in your left hand, with the bottle oriented so that the opening is slightly below the bottom (i.e. the bottle is nearly horizontal). Right palm faces upward, and you raise/lower the bottle so as to slap its neck into your right palm. This drives the ketchup to one side of the bottle, and air to the other side, establishing clear paths for the exchange of ketchup and air. Once the ketchup gets close to the exit, you can tilt the bottle further, continuing the sideslapping as needed.

On the more serious side:
how to wear a bicycle helmet. Many Years ago while waiting in a doctor's office, I saw an article tacked to the wall describing a study that revealed most people don't know how to put on a bicycle helmet. It said the common (but wrong) way is to position the helmet far back on your head, leaving the forehead dangerously exposed. Indeed, in my years of informal observation ever since, that seems to be the near-universal fitment of bicycle helmets. If you wear a bicycle helmet, then presumably you are interested in protecting your head. If so, you cannot treat your helmet as some kind of magic amulet; you have to pay attention to achieve proper fit so that you gain the benefits you're after. The NHTSA can tell you how; in my experience, most people get step #2 wrong. Get it right, and you might save your life.

[Procrustus]

Originally Posted by Gukumatz

Parents should be required by law to tell their children about the term "muscle memory" if they go into sports.

Why? I was a kid in sports many years ago, my kids did a little bit of sports when younger, and I never even heard the term until your post. I googled it. I think I understand it. But, for the life of me, I don't know why I should be required to tell my children about it?

[tdn]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

Yes, the knowledge came in handy for them, in a specific circumstance. However, in my 54 years on this planet, I've never NEEDED to know about atlatls, other than reading about them in one of Jean Auel's books.

You do get that June 2nd is World Atlatl Day, right?

Stoke up that BBQ.

[kayaker]

Originally Posted by Machine Elf

On the lighter side:
how to pour ketchup from a newly-opened bottle.

No longer a problem!!!

[tdn]

Originally Posted by Machine Elf

On the lighter side:
how to pour ketchup from a newly-opened bottle. The classic technique involves inverting the bottle and slapping its bottom to drive the ketchup toward the exit. This technique sucks. The better way? hold the bottle by its bottom in your left hand, with the bottle oriented so that the opening is slightly below the bottom (i.e. the bottle is nearly horizontal). Right palm faces upward, and you raise/lower the bottle so as to slap its neck into your right palm. This drives the ketchup to one side of the bottle, and air to the other side, establishing clear paths for the exchange of ketchup and air. Once the ketchup gets close to the exit, you can tilt the bottle further, continuing the sideslapping as needed.

I just dig it out with a knife.

[Moonlitherial]

Originally Posted by kayaker

No longer a problem!!!

Well it won't be once Heinz pays they poor MIT kids for all their hard work and starts using it

[Enkel]

Originally Posted by sandra_nz

Get some jalepenos on your hands, handle your private bits for a while, then report back.

That's like the guy who was a novice (never rode, never had a lesson before) rider trying out one of my horses. (His wife was experienced and looking for a husband horse). He really liked the mare and the mare liked him. So, after he'd walked around on her a bit, I suggest that his wife try her at a trot and lope if she wanted to.
-Man "Why her? I comfortable taking her for a trot."
-Me "Well, until you've had a lesson or two, you could just trust your wife's judgement"
-Man "No, I want to take her for a trot"
-Me "okay, press your legs on her side and ask her to trot"
Mare takes about three trotting steps and man pulls her to a halt
-Me "Do you want your wife to try her now?"
-Man "Yea, I think that will be better"

[Enkel]

Everyone should know:

DO NOT feed cooked bones to critters. They shatter into sharp shards that can kill them.
If your critter gets cooked bones by accident, you can feed them cotton balls to try to wrap the shards so they pass through their system without gouging large holes in them.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard that someone's dog came up 'sick' the day after Thanksgiving. It's a painful way for a dog to die.

[Maus Magill]

Originally Posted by Zsofia

One does not always end up in the water on purpose.

A fraternity bother of mine was knocked off a dock and drowned. No alcohol was involved.

Learn to swim.

[Cold Dish]

Originally Posted by dnooman

Facebook is a fad. It may be a huge and overpowering fad, but it will fade away as everything else does.

Telling someone you don't have a FB page is like telling them you don't have a SSN.

Facebook is a website, not a mandatory part of human culture.

Facebook is evil

[GuanoLad]

Originally Posted by Maus Magill

A fraternity bother of mine was knocked off a dock and drowned. No alcohol was involved.

Learn to swim.

Thousands of people get hit by cars every month. Learn to not be where cars are going to hit you.

Oh wait, sometimes no matter how prepared you think you are, tragedy will happen anyway.