Wow, even I’m impressed with how incisively well-put that is.
I read something on here about the Marianas trench. In 1960. For 20 minutes.
I learned how to chop an onion, the easy way, and that if you refrigerate it before you chop it, it doesn’t make you cry.
I learned that pineapples don’t grow on trees. That was the day I lost my innocence.
When I first moved to NYC I found that few of the apartments come with locks. You are supposed to buy a deadbolt to put on the door. I bought one and opened the package to be faced with no instructions and about 10 separate pieces with no idea how to assemble them. I searched and googled to no avail so I came here and asked how to put it together and someone gave me excellent step-by-step advice that I was able to use and have my lock on my door in about 20 minutes. I think that was the most useful thing I’ve ever gotten here.
That’s awesome. I unlearned the same stuff at probably the same time as you, but I didn’t get it all from here.
I’ve learned that winning an argument at all costs usually costs way more than it’s worth.
Two things:
A lot of information about lenses and focal lengths on P&S digital cameras when I was ignorant about them, which has since spurned a pretty passionate hobby in DSLR photography.
That my wife wasn’t trying to kill me by leaving the meatballs in the pot all night. That’s lead me to have lower disregard for non-commercial food safety concepts, which has increased my enjoyment of eating and spurned a pretty passionate hobby in cooking. (Note: food safety is still of extreme importance, but there’s a huge difference between home and commercial environments. I could go off on a huge tangent, but trust me, I’m safe, clean, methodical, and scientific in how I go about the kitchen; just no longer paranoid.)
I learned about the DivaCup. Changed my life.
I still can’t look at that word without thinking that it’s a prize bestowed on the best soprano in the league.
I’m with you on that. I don’t know if I could put a “Diva Cup” in my vag. Sounds like some thing I should display…
If you have a nosebleed and can feel a clot forming. blow it out. I’ve been doing this for decades without knowing why.
It seems if the clot is forming by the blood vessel and not on the blood vessel, it will just keep getting bigger anf bigger (and I’ve blown out clots that look like a raw chickin liver).
I’m having a hard time measuring ‘valuable.’ I don’t know how to rank these.
I was made aware of a book called “Before the Dawn” (thanks,** John Mace**). I read it, and increased my knowledge of the prehistory of humans (from 50000 years ago until the dawn of recorded history) tenfold.
I’ve been made aware of good fiction books I enjoyed.
I’ve learned a lot about legal stuff from Bricker.
I learned that if I bought 2 cans of Pepsi in the northern Ohio area on the way, on a road trip to Cedar Point, that I’d save $20 admission ($10 each for me and my son).
I’ve examined a lot of my own political beliefs a lot more because of posts here.
There is, it turns out, a weekly column that comes out, that I think was inspired by the Straight Dope Message Board or something, where I’ve learned a lot of valuable stuff.
I think (I hope) I understand people, and the world in general, better thanks to the different personal experiences and points of view I’ve been exposed to here. And I’ve been made aware of some good books, music, etc. And I’ve laughed a lot, which is indeed valuable. But the single most valuable practical thing I’ve learned from the SDMB might be the right (and wrong) way of dealing with fleas on cats (i.e. vet-approved flea drops—Advantage or Frontline).
Oh yeah! That too. Changed my life.
Seriously, you get an apartment in NYC and it doesn’t have a LOCK?
I learned that coffee grounds absorb odor which came in very handy when I came home from work one day to find a doggy poop explosion all over my floor.
Lots of things but the most recent was from the beauty tips thread, about filing your nails in one direction, not back and forth. It works!
ETA: I’ve also learned that I’m not nearly as smart as I thought I was, about grammar in particular, and lots of things in general.
Me too! Also, one I use mainly with women having problems with men was one I read when in a relationship with a NPD-er: ‘Getting into a messy relationship is like going into a forest with lots of red flags. Every single one of those red flags will hit you on the way out.’
Apartments here don’t come with much. You don’t get a dishwasher, washer, dryer, lock, air conditioning, etc. Sometimes you will luck out and get an apartment that has some or all of these things but it is rare. The lock thing is to your benefit though because you want to make certian that no one else has a key to your place ever otherwise you open yourself to robberies and squatters and such.
Another vote for the neti pot.
Also, how to properly tie your shoes so they don’t come untied every 15 minutes.
Both of these affect my every day life.
The most valuable thing to Amazon has been all of the book recommendations that I keep running across. They’ve made a ton off of the side orders.
You folks know some seriously good books.