# Things you didn't think would work...but do! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 31, 2005, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198 "2005-05-31T11:57:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/41 "2005-06-13T19:41:17Z")
There were some musicians performing on the street in Prague, on the little plaza in front of the castle. It was a quartet; accordion, bassoon, violin and stand-up bass, IIRC. They finished one song, and then the accordion player got out a little cymbal on a stand and put it on the ground in front of him. And with just a single drumstick he started tapping out an instantly recognizable rhythm, and I thought there was just no way they were going to play what it sounded like, because there was just no way to make it work on those instruments. But they did. The guy played the _Pink Panther_ theme on the bassoon, and it kicked ass. Similarly, I heard street musicians in Stuttgart play Bach’s _Toccata and Fugue in D minor_, and Winter from Vivaldi’s _Four Seasons_, on two accordions, and it was fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/42 "2005-06-13T19:58:16Z")
> [@sleeepy2](#): > > There’s actually some science behind this one. Alton Brown explained, I forgot it, but it had to do with ions binding with something. They actually sell stainless steel lumps just for this purpose, but any stainless flatware will do. There’s some sort of metal sheet you can lay in a sink of water, then add salt, then dip your tarnished silver in for a few minutes. If this removes the tarnish, would that be some sort of ionic thingamajig? > [@Audrey Levins](#): > > As for the OP…I gotta vote for the spit-on-your-own-blood laundry theory. Wherein you bleed on your clothing (however that happens, it does) and you douse the stain with your saliva before you throw it in the wash. This does work; I occasionally stick my finger while quilting and then hurry up and apply my saliva to the blood spot while it is wet. Once I was working on a quilt my Mom had also worked on; unfortunately the trick does not work on someone else’s blood. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/43 "2005-06-13T20:25:58Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Is the fuel line section exposed to outside air? Perhaps the clothespins are creating turbulence, exposing the fuel line to more cool air. The fuel line on that car runs from the engine-mounted fuel pump, up the front of the engine, and rearward to the carburetor. When the engine is running, its fan keeps the air moving through the radiator and down to the ground. When it is shut off, the still air under the hood gets pretty hot. Modern cars have the electric fuel pump inside the gas tank. This car had a pump driven by a cam on the end of the crankshaft. The same pump also boosted the vacuum that powered the windshield wipers. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/44 "2005-06-14T15:31:51Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > One of the most reliable hiccup remedies is letting a spoonful of sugar dissolve in your mouth. Altoids are mostly sugar, so it’s not surprising. While it’s not specifically known why a spoonful of sugar works, it’s generally not considered to because of the sugar content. The speculation is that the difficulty in swallowing a spoonful of granules and its sticking to the soft palate and uvula stimulates the vagus nerve. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/45 "2005-06-14T15:54:35Z")
Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. I thought it was all advertising hooey, but I tried it out on black Sharpie that my daughter has drawn on the wall. It came off! I can’t explain it, but I keep a couple around the house now. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/46 "2005-06-14T16:35:40Z")
The remedy of taking a long drink to stop hiccups works because you can’t breathe while you’re drinking. I discovered by trial and error that I can almost always stop hiccups by waiting for a hiccup, then immediately taking a very deep breath and holding it for as long as possible. You stop hiccuping while you’re holding your breath, and if you can hold it long enough, your diaphragm “forgets” to start hiccuping again. At least that’s what it feels like to me. Sometimes it takes two, rarely more than two, tries. I used to get hiccups a lot and they’d last forever, like all day, until I hit on the breath-holding. I think it’s amazing that the human body in general works as well as it does. It’s so complicated and fragile-seeming. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/47 "2005-06-15T01:45:37Z")
When it was announced that my [employer](http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/photorelease/q1/pr_050127g.html) would start building airplanes on a moving assembly line, no one believed it would work. 6 years and 1200 new 737’s later, it has been a smashing success. Now all Boeing aircraft are built on moving assembly lines. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/48 "2005-06-15T04:41:22Z")
Back in the day, a good friend of mine, Terry, who owns a store had weekly Magic: The Gathering tournaments. One of the formats is Booster Draft, wherein everybody buys three packs of cards and sets up a draft to decide who plays with what cards. Some of these packs have foil cards. At the time, Terry was trying to make a full set of foils; so what he would do is open the packs for Booster Draft beforehand, pull out any foils, replace them with the same card in non-foil form, and stuff them back into the pack. He’d then sell them at cost for the tournament. One day I was hanging out at the store with a couple of other friends when Terry showed off his new digital postal scale. It was really nice, and accurate to a fraction of a gram. I said “Hey, Terry, I wonder if that thing’s sensitive enough to tell the difference between a pack with a foil and a regular pack.” We decided to find out. He grabbed a few random packs, and weighed them on the scale. Sure enough, every pack that had a foil card in it weighed just a little bit more than a pack without a foil. So from then on, Terry would just weigh the packs first, and open the heavy ones. He still sold them at cost, though. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/49 "2005-06-15T12:15:08Z")
Another odd blood-stain remedy that actually works. If you have a fresh blood stain, rub it with milk. The blood comes right out. Supposedly it’s a protein-removes-protein thing. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198/50 "2005-06-15T16:00:16Z")
Baby wipes are good for other things than wiping babies. I keep them in my car for quick cleanups if I’m forced to do repairs on the road. I use them to do a quick “refreshing wipe” on hot days. ----\>\>\> **The most important!** I use them to remove stains on nearly EVERYTHING! Spill soda/oil/blood/anything that stains, and wipe it up with a baby wipe! Amazing but true. I didn’t believe the person that told me, but I’ve discovered they really do work! Once in a while, it might not get all the stain on the first go, but it helps with the removal in the laundry, and will get it “less noticible” enough to allow you to continue your day without a huge visible stain on your clothing. -Butler [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-think-would-work-but-do/306198.md?page=2)