# Obsolete Advice (For things that still exist) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 1, 2024, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548 "2024-09-01T06:31:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/121 "2024-09-02T20:01:31Z")
> [@susan](#): > > You should brush your teeth with a vigorous up-and-down motion. Obsolete is do NOT brush after every meal- chew sugarfree gum or an alcohol free mouthwash. Also pay not attention to the toothpaste ads where it shows about an inch of tooth paste- you need only about a peas worth. > [@echoreply](#): > > I’m not sure if that is supposed to be sarcastic or incredulous. Yes, please downshift in your automatic when descending long mountain passes so that you don’t overheat your brakes. Doing it for every red light does seem excessive. He does it on mild hills. Yes, on long steep hills it can be a good idea. > [@eschereal](#): > > I see people leaving the fan just pointlessly moving air around My wife does this, and I cant stop her. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/122 "2024-09-02T20:16:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > . The best thing you can do for a burn is to cool it off right away to prevent further damage, and then to dress it in a sterile bandage We’re talking about first and second degree burns here, right? Because I was taught not to put regular cloth bandages on third-degree burns, because they’ll fuse with the burnt flesh. Only special burn bandages should be put on serious burns. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/123 "2024-09-02T20:24:38Z")
I do brush after every meal, but you should wait 10 minutes so the acidic food doesn’t mess with the enamel during brushing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/124 "2024-09-02T20:30:37Z")
With third degree burns, you should probably be calling 911 before you do any first aid. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/125 "2024-09-02T20:54:22Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > Also, my view of the matter is that we can still produce enough food to feed the world… but getting that food where it is needed is expensive both in terms of transportation and storage. The real problem is poverty: there are hundreds of millions of people who have absolutely nothing to offer in return for food. And the most well-meaning efforts at charity have run into paradoxical perverse incentives, such as driving the few food producers in famine areas out of business, or empowering warlords who can monopolize the distribution process. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/126 "2024-09-02T21:01:50Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > My computer doesn’t even _have_ an “off” button; the Power button is strictly for turning the computer on, and pushing it when it’s already on just does a reboot. Turning the computer off is done entirely through Windows Start menu’s Power options (though on rare occasions I’ve been locked up badly enough to have to yank the power cord). But if the computer is frozen (blue screen of death) you cannot turn it off in software. And if it is a laptop with a 3 hour battery, pulling the plug doesn’t work either (unless you wait 3 hours). I suppose opening the bottom and pulling the battery would work. But holding the power button for 5 or 10 seconds definitely works. And I have never had trouble rebooting after that. By waiting 10 seconds and pushing the power button. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/127 "2024-09-02T21:13:19Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > plant based food is water-intensive, so areas that are very dry, it’s actually cheaper to eat animal based foods. Im trying to make sense of this. The animals were fed on plants, which are water intensive to raise, and the conversion from plant fodder to animal flesh is very lossy. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/128 "2024-09-02T21:15:50Z")
That’s almost certainly configurable - in Power Options in the Control Panel you can specify what you want the power button to do. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/129 "2024-09-02T21:31:44Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Im trying to make sense of this. The animals were fed on plants, which are water intensive to raise, and the conversion from plant fodder to animal flesh is very lossy. There are places where enough grass grows naturally for cattle or sheep to graze, but if you wanted to grow wheat or corn, you’d have to irrigate. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/130 "2024-09-02T21:31:59Z")
The findings are incontrovertible. _I first learned about it in the 1970’s_ and since then the research has only become more obvious, refined, accepted, and the problem more and more imperative. It is a simple ratio, particularly for cattle, which have the worst feed conversion ability. For every pound of beef, you need about ten pounds of grain.Do the math. There are climates where it makes sense to eat mostly animals. Such as the Arctic. Not the climates humans mainly live in. That wild hippie radical paper, the New York Times, recently published findings that one of the top three changes that would make the most difference in combatting climate change is not eating meat. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/131 "2024-09-02T21:45:48Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > While at the pure biological level people could get by (with some difficulty) without meat, that over-simplifies a lot of real world practical considerations. A blanket declaration that this is what everyone should do, regardless of what subject “this” is referring to, is always overconfident. There’s real room for doubt. Actually there is no difficulty except habit and taste, for most people. It’s inarguably healthier for almost everyone. More than a billion people are vegetarians (about 40% of Indians, for example). Meat is a preferred food in the same way sugar is – our bodies know that it is one of the most condensed ways to get protein, which is biologically expensive to make. But the planet cannot afford it, not any more. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/132 "2024-09-02T21:48:39Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > There are places where enough grass grows naturally for cattle or sheep to graze, but if you wanted to grow wheat or corn, you’d have to irrigate. In North America, range land which doesn’t support crops is used for cattle, but they are fattened in feedlots where they eat grain. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/133 "2024-09-02T21:59:19Z")
I didn’t know that. Interesting. The herding I’m (superficially) familiar with is mostly sheep. I don’t know if they fatten them or not. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/134 "2024-09-02T22:07:46Z")
This is getting into GD territory. If we’re going to continue this I suggest a split thread. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/135 "2024-09-02T22:42:46Z")
> [@knavette57](#): > > I am sure our hunter gatherer ancestors ate many plants. They had to, hunting was not always successful. I left a blind link upthread. From that link > [@](#): > > Cyanogenic glycosides are phytotoxins which occur in at least 2000 plant species, of which a number of species are used as food in some areas of the world. Cassava and sorghum are especially important staple foods containing cyanogenic glycosides (Conn, > 1979a,b; Nartey, 1980; Oke,1979, 1980; Vennesland et al., 1982; > Rosling, 1987). > > There are approximately 25 cyanogenic glycosides known. The major cyanogenic glycosides found in the edible parts of plants used for human or animal consumption are summarized in Table 1. The potential toxicity of a cyanogenic plant depends primarily on the potential that its consumption will produce a concentration of HCN that is toxic to exposed animals or humans (see Table 2). > > Several factors are important in this toxicity: > The first aspect is the processing of plant products containing cyanogenic glycosides. When the edible parts of the plants are macerated, the catabolic intracellular enzyme ß-glucosidase can be released, coming into contact with the glycosides. This enzyme hydrolyzes the cyanogenic glycosides to produce hydrogen cyanide and glucose and ketones or benzaldehyde. The hydrogen cyanide is the major toxic compound causing the toxic effects. > > Plant products (notably cassava), if not adequately detoxified during the processing or preparation of the food, are toxic because of the release of this preformed hydrogen cyanide. > > The second aspect is the direct consumption of the cyanogenic plant. Maceration of edible parts of the plants as they are eaten can release ß-glucosidase. The ß-glucosidase is then active until the low pH in the stomach deactivates the enzyme. Additionally, it is possible that part of the enzyme fraction can become reactivated in the alkaline environment of the gut. At least part of the potential hydrogen cyanide is released, and may be responsible for all or part of the toxic effect of cyanogenic glycosides in the cases of some foods. [https://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jecmono/v30je18.htm](https://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jecmono/v30je18.htm) I’m not saying that I buy the conclusions postulated online; I don’t claim expertise in the quoted science, and I don’t plan on avoiding vegetables anytime soon. But I don’t think it’s a compelling argument to claim that we should strive to eat like our ancestors; we have _far more_ food options than they ever had, and an _optimal_ diet isn’t necessarily the same as what they ate. There is a strain of thinking which says that we should be eating animals and their byproducts, notwithstanding the fact that it would have been scarce for early humans, because it makes us healthiest. Now, to be clear, I don’t subscribe to this theory; I try to eat a lot of fiber each day, through things like oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and fruits and vegetables. But the “no veggies” idea is at least _science adjacent_ > **[Why You Shouldn't Eat Vegetables: 6 Reasons Why Veggies are Not as Good as...](https://www.doctorkiltz.com/why-you-shouldnt-eat-vegetables/)** > > Why you shouldn't eat vegetables. They're high in carbs, not as nutritious as you think, have plant toxins and bacteria, and cause leaky gut ---
**Author:** ![Nyvaak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nyvaak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyvaak)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/136 "2024-09-02T22:48:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > With third degree burns, you should probably be calling 911 before you do any first aid This. If the burned area is very small, you could dispense with the ambulance and be driven to the E.R. in a private vehicle. (But of course the 911 response helps alleviate: doubt about _how_ small, complications like airway burns, panicky family members driving, etc.) Cooling immediately post-burn is _still_ a good idea, even if there is now doubt about how much and how long to cool. Cloth fusing with a 3rd degree burn isn’t a concern. That may well have happened at the time of the burn, as artificial fibers tend to melt, rather than burn away. Third-degree burns tend to be dry; they’re dead tissue now. Avoidance of bandages with the moist, weepy second-degree burn is mostly because it HURTS to have anything touch it. If cloth adheres when the burn and the dressing dry out, the E.R. will simply wet it down again. > [@Alessan](#): > > Only special burn bandages should be put on serious burns. Is this current advice? I admit to being a little out of practice. We once stocked special burn dressings, everything from slick, non-stick sterile stuff to gel-impregnated cooling dressings. Then the standard of care turned to using just clean (not necessarily even sterile) dry dressings or sheets But the pendulum keeps swinging, Have there been studies to bring special burn dressings back into use? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/137 "2024-09-02T22:55:44Z")
> [@Nyvaak](#): > > Is this current advice? 30-year-old advice, actually. I was genuinely curious what the current recommendations are. ---
**Author:** ![Nyvaak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nyvaak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyvaak)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/138 "2024-09-02T23:08:51Z")
As mentioned, I’m out of the mainstream now, and even when I was active in EMS and training other paramedics, it was hard to know what the most current practice was. One study would say one thing, and next week another study disproved it. The most progressive medical directors I knew would be recommending opposite approaches. But the recommended practice by most burn authorities a few years ago was to use clean, dry dressings. If they adhere, the E.R. (or more likely the Burn Unit) will wet them down again. When I flew med-evac, the small rural hospitals would wrap severely burned patients in wet sheets, so they were soon miserably cold as well as in pain. We’d arrive, put them in warm blankets and give morphine. Burn patients _loved_ us. ---
**Author:** ![Nyvaak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nyvaak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyvaak)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/139 "2024-09-02T23:19:56Z")
But NONE of the modern recommendations involve butter. 😉 Though I can still remember my uncle having me put it on a burn in his kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548/140 "2024-09-03T08:09:50Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > But the “no veggies” idea is at least _science adjacent_ It always is. ‘Science adjacent’ just happens to be the fertile ground for quacks and fad diet influencers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-advice-for-things-that-still-exist/1006548.md?page=8)