What random piece of information do you know that might help others?

Don’t travel to another country with no luggage. You will get secondary random screening from customs.

Never fight a land war in Asia.

If your brakes fail, gradually apply your parking/emergency brake.

If you ever have to choose between being useful or being loved – It’s easier to be useful.

If you need to know what day of the week a certain date falls on, you can use the rule that the last day of February and 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10 and 12/12 all fall on the same day for a given year. This year the shared day is Monday.

If you are a senior being casually ignored by retail workers when you need help, sharply drop the “f” bomb into your request, they will be so shocked that they will listen.

@JLeslie, I am sorry you have these ear issues, I have never had a doctor ignore my concerns, and they have found problems caused by earwax when I didn’t know that that was what was wrong.
I hope this gets better for you.

@canidmajor It’s not a big deal. Just another eye roll for the ignorance I run across with doctors. Your earwax was probably not impacted, so it’s not what I’m talking about and not the type of thing a GP would miss. How did your doctor remove the wax?

Yes, @JLeslie, it has been impacted. And I have had some issues more than once, so it is likely that it pertains to what you were talking about.
And it must have been a big enough deal (you imply multiple times with your wording) to frame a Q around it.

A peroxide solution loosened it, then she used some specialized objects to remove the rest, I didn’t examine the tools.

@canidmajor Your GP? Did you need to use the peroxide for several days? Or, she did everything in the office? Did it hurt at all? Did she vacuum it out, flush it with water, or scrape it?

Never eat yellow snow. Ever.

@canidmajor I think you got lucky, which is great.

The rest of my story is I messaged with Hearkat after seeing the doctor recently, and my situation was not surprising to her at all.

I just went to the doctor a week ago and she said my left ear had no wax and my ear canal is very narrow (I think part of the narrowness is probably the wax). A few days later I was able to remove a bunch of wax by luck.

About ten years ago I had discomfort in that ear and went to a few doctors and they never tried to remove any wax or even mention it, and they had all looked in my ears. Even one was an ENT. Then I wound up at an ENT for vertigo from my accident and I mentioned my discomfort, he wound up removing a lot of wax and cured my discomfort that I had in my left ear. That’s when I realized doctors will completely ignore or miss the situation altogether.

Whichever side the exit number is on the sign is the side where the exit will be. Number on left? Merge left as that’s where exit will be. Same for is it’s on the right of the sign.

Oh, ffs, @JLeslie, I am not going to detail my medical experiences for you to judge the value of same. I simply said I thought it was a shame that you had these bad experiences, and you decided to argue with me. <eyeroll>

Alright, this one seems silly, but always apply eye products – lotions, makeup, moisturizer, etc – with your ring finger and pat it on, don’t rub. The ring finger is the weakest, and patting keeps from stretching the skin.

To any of my fellow Texans who may see this – when the roads are iced up, slow the hell down Sparky. You can play Billy Crash Craddock after the warm up. We aren’t accustomed to that crap and we don’t know how to drive in it. Three hundred and fifty wrecks around Austin one day? Get real people.

If you’re in a car and you’re not sure which side the gas tank is on (for when you’re going to the gas station), there’s a little picture of a gas tank near the Gas details on your dashboard, and it will indicate which side the tank is on.

20 pounds of dry wood, paper, cardboard, dry leaves, or paper trash burned in your wood burning stove has about the same heating value as 1 gallon of heating oil burned in your furnace.
You can effectively turn 20 pounds of paper trash into $4.00 worth of home heating oil or the equivalent amount of natural gas just by burning it. Consider it recycling!

Regardless of your personal opinions, knowing all sides of an argument on any issue is a great way to expand your knowledge.

This one may be common: After you’ve cooked and drained ground beef, put it in a colander and rinse it under water. Voila’! Less fat!

And speaking of colanders, have you seen those that look like a ball has been cut in half (with a handle) and they’re made out of plastic? I use it to dry my hair. I just bend to the side, catch as much hair as I can in it, stand back up and hold it in place by the handle – usually with my ear in about the center – and turn on the blow dryer! Then I do the other side the same. I don’t dry it completely. I have a natural wave, and this really brings it out.

Mechanic in a bottle will save you hours of sorting out fuel system issues on small engines like lawnmowers that have been sitting too long. For those of you who don’t work on your engines it may save you from getting a new one.

If you’re confused which route to take on the interstate odd numbers are north-south and even numbers are east-west. Three digit numbers are typically bypasses or connectors.

Know the locations of the exits.

Don’t be afraid to tell your doctor “no” when he says he is going to do a test or procedure, or start you on a medication or anything else. You may want to do some reading or research before jumping on his wagon. If he is anything but supportive of your involvement in your own care, find another doctor.

Never put a Q-Tip in the inner ear. When I was a young adult I spent 5 hours in the emergency room in the middle of the night with temporary hearing loss. The Dr. fixed in 2 minutes by flushing my ears.

Never use deodorant on swamp ass. I read up on that last week. It was helpful.

Hairspray really does remove ballpoint ink on fabric. Spot test in a hidden area if you are concerned about a delicate fabric. I’ve used the trick on furniture, clothing, blankets, it works great. Alcohol free hairspray won’t work. You need regular aerosol hairspray. Nothing fancy.

Ok, I don’t know what ‘swamp ass’ is, and don’t want to know (!), but it sounds disgusting beyond descriptive words!

@smudges Go for a long summer drive in jeans with no A/C.

^^ ewwwww The horror! Ohhh the horror! What part of “don’t want to know” didn’t you understand? LOL

I have a head full of useless knowledge. I never know what might pop to the top and be of use at any given time. Example: when you get sunburned, don’t rush to put aloe or burn cream on it. Take the time to rinse it in cool water. It will stop the “cooking” process and ultimately relieve pain and likely keep you from peeling later on.