Do you have some minor life advice?

bigboismith@lemmy.world to [Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation@lemmy.world – 78 points –

Mine is to to keep chocolate in the fridge. It's a lot crunchier and has more chocolate taste.

86

Learn to cook. It makes you happier and probably healthier.

Fried rice is easy to make and delicious.

When a cop ask you questions, only answer what you are required to answer.

If you are still using Chrome/Edge, try Firefox.

Do not skip going to the dentist.

If you live in the United States, don't talk to cops. You don't know this person. You don't know that the cop isn't a criminal and is now looking for a patsy. Don't discuss your day, don't discuss your travel plans, don't say where you've been. If a cop asks to search anything, don't say yes, don't say no, don't say sure, no thanks. The only thing you say is 'I do not consent to a search', regardless of how it is asked. If a cop asks you anything, say 'I invoke the fifth and I want to speak to a lawyer'. Burghuis v thompkins effect hobbled you miranda rights. And you must verbalize your right to remain silent. You must also verbally request a lawyer in basically eight grade english. No slang. If you say 'I want a lawyer, dawg' state v demesme makes it reasonable for cops to believe you would like a lawyer who is a dog.

I can't imagine browsing the web without Firefox!

Don't just learn to cook. Find at least one dish that you want to get down pat and perfect that dish. Having that one dish you do perfectly is great for date nights.

I'm not saying good pasta is the way to a woman's heart, but it's true that I've never seen a woman in a bad mood with good pasta in her stomach.

As someone who hates cooking, it definitely does not make me happier.

When a cop ask you questions, only answer what you are required to answer.

Yep. You have to tell them your name and ID yourself, you have to get out of the car if they tell you to, but you don't have to say shit about what did or didn't happen. Even if you haven't been read your rights there are still some circumstances where the bodycam can be played and used against you in court. It only takes 2 seconds for one random thing to come out of your mouth that you can't take back that can perfectly make the case against you, and put you away.

The cops' job is to catch bad people and put them away. That is fine, you don't gotta be hostile or deliberately make everyone's day unpleasant, but if you're in the crosshairs as a potential bad person don't say a goddamned word until you talk to a lawyer. Anything helpful for your side about you talking to them will still be helpful after you talk to a lawyer.

For as much as I don't agree with him stealing, this guy actually shows a great example of how it works (all sides - the manipulation of dude-just-be-honest and his correct response to it; obeying all the lawful orders but telling them to GFY whenever they ask him questions.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q59Fd5ClUc&t=980s

"I'm not admit to a god damned thing. Prove it."

(Honestly I wouldn't even say that much, because they can maybe play that in court and say see he knew he was guilty. Just, I don't want to talk to you about it until I talk to a lawyer first.)

This.

Me and my partner have spent the last hour looking through recipe books because I need to figure out how to good a more... diabetes friendly selection of foods.

I can cook a roast dinner no problem, but cooking beans and pulses? No idea.

Get an Instant Pot, put in some pinto beans, ads Chile, cumin, and chopped jalapenos, as well as veggie broth, enjoy your life. Instant Pot or any pressure cooker is really worth it.

Don't cheap out on anything that connects you to the ground.

  • shoes
  • tyres
  • chairs
  • bed (mattress specifically)

At first I read "chains" and had some questions.

You should definitely spend good money on the bed the chains connect you to.

A bed frame to get your mattress off the floor makes a bigger difference than you'd think. And having one that won't break and drop you is even better!

That said, I love IKEA bed frames.

If you're not using a center support you're wrecking your mattress as it sags in the centre. Please keep this in mind!

Wear hearing protection. Often. I work and talk to a lot of handyman type people and almost all of them have somewhat poor hearing. Even some close to my age (20's). The one thing in common? No hearing protection.

Even though hand tool woodwork is much quieter I still always wear earplugs. Even when running the vacuum I wear hearing protection. I also take it easy with the music, with a great pair of headphones you don't need to crank it up.

Also wear respirators often when dealing with almost any particulate. If you are working on something that produces a lot of dust, you probably want to wear a respirator. Doesn't matter if it's natural, even wood dust can mess you up. Especially during grinding or sanding.

A lot of shitty people will give you flak, but NEVER let people dictate your safety, specifically when they tell you to use less.

To add onto this - always wear gloves when painting / don't get paint on your hands. Stuff is mostly toxic - even acrylic paint. Boat paint is incredibly bad for you (polyurethane 2 part for instance). Wear a mask when painting

This. I worked with polyurethane glue a couple of weeks ago. The tube says to use gloves. I thought "meh, I'll just be careful not to get it on my hands". Hello tiny itchy blisters. The fumes are an irritant too.

I spoke with a guy that has a small boat and painted boats a lot. He said he met so many people that don't use gloves, respirators, etc, and they all feel like they lost intelligence over the years and have huge respiratory issues. Getting 2 part paint on your skin builds up in the system and caused long time illnesses.

Doesn’t matter if it’s natural, even wood dust can mess you up.

Decades back there was a letter to the editor in Fine Woodworking complaining about a similar thing, writer had been sanding some lacquerware furniture and got a monstrous rash – lacquer comes from the lacquer tree and contains urishiol (poison sumac, poison oak, poison ivy) …

Uh, disagree. Chocolate tastes MUCH better at room temperature.

Well, good quality chocolate tastes much better at room temperature. Shit quality 'chocolate' like some of the big brands here in America does taste better cold. But only because it dulls the horrible taste.

Which brings me to my own little life pro-tip: spend a bit more on decent quality chocolate. It's worth the cost.

Agree, I will not eat Hershey's. It tastes like vomit. No thanks.

Iirc a lot of American chocolate has a preservative in it which was originally used to keep it good during long journeys in transit to stores. Americans got used to the taste of this preservative, so it remains

Said preservative has a similar taste to what gives parmesan and vomit a distinct bite in its taste.

I'm going off memory here so if I'm wrong please correct me.

As a European, I'd read about this phenomenon and assumed it was just a sort of vaguely reminiscent hint of a taste. Because surely nobody would be eating it if it tasted strongly of vomit.

Was given a free sample of Hershey's in Chicago once. Didn't taste of anything at all it was just weird and waxy. So much for that!

Yeah I made it maybe halfway down the street before the taste kicked in. For any other non-US folks who think it's an exaggeration, it is not. Literally tasted like I'd thrown up in my mouth, not just a bit like it but literally like vomit.

My minor life advice is do not accept handouts of Hershey's chocolate!

Agree! Also, I agree with the other comment as well. Sometimes, and I mean sometimes, I can go for a frozen milky way or Twix but that's way different and even then that's like a once every 2 years thing for me.

I got all the life advice I needed from the coach in Teen Wolf in 1985:

  • Never get less than 12 hours sleep
  • Never play poker with a guy whose first name is a city
  • Never get involved with a woman whose got a tattoo of a dagger on her body

Clean the lent trap on the clothes dryer everytime.

Test your smoke detectors at least once a year.

If you have to force it, you're going to break it.

The thing is, you never know for sure until you try it.

If it can't work, it gets replaced. If it can but won't, it gets abused until it does... or can't.

Read the entire error message, then look it up, before asking for help.

Never buy food when you're hungry. You'll end up wasting money buying more food than you need, and after all is said and done, you'll feel really fat and be ashamed at yourself.

I keep a granola bar in my bag specifically to save money when grocery shopping

A powder-type extinguisher should be turned on its head maybe once a year, just to make sure its contents don't separate and gets stuck to the bottom. Sloshing its contents makes sure it stays mixed and healthy.

Let ice cream warm up a bit after taking it out the freezer before eating it. Makes it softer and you taste more as your tongue isn't numbed as much.

When having a conversation someone, try paying attention to the other person's body language, tone and the way things are said.

You can pick up a lot of things that way, possibly mood and others.

Another tip is if somebody says something, do not necessarily come back with a topical response, sometimes just repeat exactly what they just said flatly and wait for them.

This shows you are listening and creates a nanosecond of validation. And instead of filling the gap in conversation with your response, you give them a chance to expand their thoughts.

Wonderfully put, this is an excellent tip.

Lift weights. It makes your bones stronger, helps you age better. The younger you start, the better, but it's never too late.

Don't put bananas on top of you other fruit. Bananas give off a lot of ethylene gas during their ripening process which quickens the ripening process of other fruits. So seperating your bananas helps to keep your fruit fresh for longer.

My advice is to keep mint chocolates in the freezer. Especially York's.

Rinse your razor in cold water when you’re shaving

Like the other comment, I'd also like a follow-up on this as I usually use hot water to rinse it. The foam seems to get stuck on the razor if I use cold water. Is there something I'm missing that makes the cold water better?

It makes your pores tighten up so you get more of a crisp shave. So says the mythology and in my experience it feels better; YMMV of course.

Use qtips to clean your nose/sinuses.

If you have dandruff, dry skin, or anything that requires special medicated products, buy a few different brands with different active ingredients and rotate your usage between them so your body doesn’t build immunity.

If you don't absolutely need to drive somewhere, don't.

Maybe it's because I don't drive, but I never understood why people need to get into their vehicles to go to a store that's only a block away. I just think more is attained out of strolling to do small errands as a pedestrian, which is good for your body/mind/social life, than to get there by vehicle which just contributes more to the commotion on the road and in the atmosphere.

Get a good toilet plunger and know how to use it correctly. Most plungers kinda suck.

If you are plunging a sink, make sure you either use duct tape to cover over the overflow hole, or you plug it with a wet rag.

In the case of a double sink, make sure the other side is plugged.

Otherwise all you're doing is pushing air back and forth through this overflow/2nd drain, and you're not actually forcing the clog out.

Do that thing you want to do but keep pushing ahead because you don't know if you'll be able to do it in the future.

Speaking from experience. Illness is a bummer.

By Nigel Swanston & Tim Cox

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99 Wear sunscreen If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it A long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable Than my own meandering experience, I will dispense this advice now Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth Until they've faded, but trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back At photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now How much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked You are not as fat as you imagine Don't worry about the future Or worry, but know that worrying Is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing Bubble gum The real troubles in your life Are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday Do one thing every day that scares you Saying, don't be reckless with other people's hearts Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours Floss Don't waste your time on jealousy Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind The race is long and in the end, it's only with yourself Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults If you succeed in doing this, tell me how Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements Stretch Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life The most interesting people I know Didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't Get plenty of calcium Be kind to your knees You'll miss them when they're gone Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the 'Funky Chicken' On your 75th wedding anniversary Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much Or berate yourself either Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's Enjoy your body, use it every way you can Don't be afraid of it or what other people think of it It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your own living room Read the directions even if you don't follow them Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good Be nice to your siblings, they're your best link to your past And the people most likely to stick with you in the future Understand that friends come and go But a precious few, who should hold on Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle For as the older you get The more you need the people you knew when you were young Live in New York City once but leave before it makes you hard Live in northern California once but leave before it makes you soft Travel Accept certain inalienable truths Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble And children respected their elders Respect your elders Don't expect anyone else to support you Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse But you never know when either one might run out Don't mess too much with your hair Or by the time you're 40 it will look 85 Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past From the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts And recycling it for more than it's worth But trust me on the sunscreen

When you need to melt cold butter in a pan, don't break out the knife or try to chip off a shard, just put it face down on the pan and let the appropriate amount melt.

This requires that you keep a small ring of the foil on the base (for convenience and clean hands) but it's easy to do that once you get into the habit.

Letterkenny taught me that girls who tuck their phone into their bras cannot be knocked down, but girls who take their shoes off on the dance floor will try.