The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[Coruscation]

5. I have read that cockroaches are attracted to cardboard (or possibly the glue) and will eat it, so you should store things in plastic containers, not shoeboxes if you want to keep pests out of them. This may be what he is referencing.

[WillyNilly]

2. Why does the ice from the ice-maker inside my freezer freeze all together in the catch-tray? Can this be prevented?  It is a pain in the butt and I have actually broken catch-trays trying to dislodge enough ice to put in my water bottle.

Your ice is melting together, so to prevent this, make your freezer colder or open it less/for less time.

4. When I tell my husband to keep the door shut so the flies won’t get in in the summer, he responds with "flies come from fruit".  Is this accurate?  (I am talking about the bigger flies with the red eyes which I believe are called "Blowflies" and not the little ones which I think are called "Drosophila/Fruit flies".

I suppose there could be fly eggs on your fruit from where ever you buy it from, but they are most likely to be those tiny fruit flies not big black flies. But its not like fruit magically sprouts flies, the only way your fruit is bringing in flies is if there are fly eggs on the fruit or the fruit is over ripe and attracting flies from outside.

5. Similarly, I was chewed out by my FIL for having a stack of old cereal boxes and pizza boxes stacked in the corner of the kitchen waiting for hubby to take them to the recycling center. FIL says that cockroaches come from having cardboard boxes around.  Is this accurate?  I worked fast food for years. There were never roaches around either the inside storage areas (freezer/refrigerator/dry-storage) where the food was stored in cardboard boxes or the dumpster where we disposed of said boxes whenever they were empty.

Again, boxes don't magically sprout roaches. The boxes could host eggs, if they come from somewhere infested (and indeed a grocery store or pizzeria could be infested). If you already have roaches though, they do like cardboard a whole lot, so often piles of cardboard is associated with roaches. If you don't have roaches and trust the source of your boxes though, no worries.

6. Why do I like to use a fork to put my dressing/dip on my salad/chips?  I've had more weird looks for dipping my fork in my dressing before stabbing my salad than for using chopsticks to eat said salad.   Am I just crazy?

Only you can answer why you like to do it. But its not so weird or crazy. This is a tactic often suggested for weight loss as you get less dressing per biteful, yet the flavor of dressing in every bite. I've read to do this as a suggestion at least half a dozen times in magazines and at Weight Watchers.

7. Would it damage a child to encourage them to be ambidextrous?  Not trying to spark a flame war here, just wondering if I had children and encouraged them saying things like, "Ok, can you write that letter with your other hand too?" if it would scar them for life.

8. Is it possible to become ambidextrous as an adult?  Ever since I injured my hand in high school, I've wondered if it would be a waste of time for me to try to train myself to write with both hands.

Its not damaging to encourage or practice use of a non-dominant hand. Its good. But I don't think you can become actually ambidextrous, I think a person will still have a naturally inclined dominate hand.  Its just that they will be very adept at using their non-dominant hand.

[Elfmama]

woohoo!  I might have to do the happy dance because I made it through this whole thread!
I have come up with some really random questions (some stupider than others) along the way.

1. Why do dogs have a little extra flap of skin at the lower corner of the ear?  It is like a double layered little bit on only the bottom part of the ear.  Am I making any sense?

We have that flap too, earlobes.  Ours serve only as a place to wear earrings; the same flap on cats marks the place to tickle to make them twitch their ears.

2. Why does the ice from the ice-maker inside my freezer freeze all together in the catch-tray? Can this be prevented?  It is a pain in the butt and I have actually broken catch-trays trying to dislodge enough ice to put in my water bottle.

Because it's a frost-free freezer.  Those work by occasionally injecting warm air into the freezer, just enough to vaporize the frost but not enough to thaw the food.  It IS enough to create a very thin film of water on your ice cubes. (It will also suck moisture out of imperfectly wrapped food, creating freezer burn.) As this thin film of water freezes again (and again, and again) it sticks the ice cubes together.  Unless you are under severe water rationing, just dump the mass of stuck-together ice cubes into the sink once a week or so, just before you go to bed, and make sure the ice maker is on.  Fresh ice in the morning!  (If you ARE under severe water rationing, dump them into a bucket and use it to flush the toilet in the morning or something.)

4. When I tell my husband to keep the door shut so the flies won’t get in in the summer, he responds with "flies come from fruit".  Is this accurate?  (I am talking about the bigger flies with the red eyes which I believe are called "Blowflies" and not the little ones which I think are called "Drosophila/Fruit flies".

Does he think that the flies are spontaneously generated from the fruit? That one was disproved centuries ago!  As PP have said, you let them in or bring in their eggs on things.  Fruit fly eggs are all but invisible to the naked eye, so it's easier to do. 

6. Why do I like to use a fork to put my dressing/dip on my salad/chips?  I've had more weird looks for dipping my fork in my dressing before stabbing my salad than for using chopsticks to eat said salad.   Am I just crazy?

Not at all!  You get the taste of the dressing without consuming the calories of gobs and gobs of it.  I tell DH that it's call 'dip' because you are supposed to insert the chips and then remove them, not use them as shovels to convey large quantities of dip to the mouth!

7. Would it damage a child to encourage them to be ambidextrous?  Not trying to spark a flame war here, just wondering if I had children and encouraged them saying things like, "Ok, can you write that letter with your other hand too?" if it would scar them for life.

Forcing a child to use the non-dominant hand can cause things like stuttering, but I can't see how encouraging him to try it once in a while would hurt.  Many children are ambidextrous naturally, but when schools get hold of them, they lose that ability.  If you aren't strongly left-handed, teacher tells you to use your right hand to write, draw, throw a baseball, etc.,  and that ability gradually atrophies.

8. Is it possible to become ambidextrous as an adult?  Ever since I injured my hand in high school, I've wondered if it would be a waste of time for me to try to train myself to write with both hands.

It can't hurt to try.  I was one of those naturally ambidextrous kids, and over  the last few years I've tried to regain as much of it as possible.   Writing is still beyond me, though -- I mirror-write with my left hand!

[that_one_girl]

2.  Don't know, maybe it's too shallow for how much water goes in, so the tops freeze together.

They are solid, separate cubes when they fall into the tray.  Only afterwards do they stick together in a huge clump.  It is truely maddening!

[that_one_girl]

4. When I tell my husband to keep the door shut so the flies won’t get in in the summer, he responds with "flies come from fruit".  Is this accurate?  (I am talking about the bigger flies with the red eyes which I believe are called "Blowflies" and not the little ones which I think are called "Drosophila/Fruit flies".

Does he think that the flies are spontaneously generated from the fruit? That one was disproved centuries ago!  As PP have said, you let them in or bring in their eggs on things.  Fruit fly eggs are all but invisible to the naked eye, so it's easier to do. 

yes, he actually thinks that the larger flies randomly appear because I have a bunch of bananas sitting on the counter in a bowl ... *facepalm* men!

[marcel]

I am naturaly ambidextrous as well, though this was only discovered* when I was in my early teens. I was told then that I could probably learn to write with my right hand if I wanted to, but it would likely cause problems like concentration problems, not being able to sleep, etc for a while. This was not worth it.

I do do some things with 2 hands, and using the computer moouse with both hands is one I have thought myself purposely after my sister developed RSI. I am now glad with this ability, since I now have 2 computers at my desk at work, and sometimes use them simultaneously


*By discovered, I mean that some adults finely realized that I did some things with my right hand not because I saw otherds do it or because of peer pressure or because I didn't understand that I could do it with my other hand, but simply because I prefered doing some things with my right hand. (I am still frustrated with the teachers, my parents (mom was a teacher) etc, who sat down for conversations explaining that I did not have to do things with my right hand, that it was ok to use my left hand, as if the most logical reason for a child to do something with one hand is not that child prefers using that hand.)

[Mental Magpie]

2.  Don't know, maybe it's too shallow for how much water goes in, so the tops freeze together.

They are solid, separate cubes when they fall into the tray.  Only afterwards do they stick together in a huge clump.  It is truely maddening!

Ooooooooh. Then your freezer is warming enough to make them melt a little before it grows cold enough for that melted part to freeze again, this freezing them together.

[Slartibartfast]

2.  Don't know, maybe it's too shallow for how much water goes in, so the tops freeze together.

They are solid, separate cubes when they fall into the tray.  Only afterwards do they stick together in a huge clump.  It is truely maddening!

Also could deal with the humidity in your house - I have this problem a lot more during the spring and fall (when I'm not running the A/C) than I do during the summer or winter.  You open the freezer, a fresh crop of humid air gets in, then it freezes on everything . . . repeat a whole bunch of times and you have clumpy ice.

[that_one_girl]

so if one wanted to try to learn to write with the non dominant hand, how would one go about that? 

Buy a bunch of kids' handwriting books and practice?

I just worry that my non-dominant hand is losing dexterity because I use my other hand to do EVERYTHING ... write, knit, eat with chopsticks, etc.  When I wake up in the morning, my non-dominant hand sometimes has "pins and needles" or feels stiff.

[joraemi]

so if one wanted to try to learn to write with the non dominant hand, how would one go about that? 

Buy a bunch of kids' handwriting books and practice?

I just worry that my non-dominant hand is losing dexterity because I use my other hand to do EVERYTHING ... write, knit, eat with chopsticks, etc.  When I wake up in the morning, my non-dominant hand sometimes has "pins and needles" or feels stiff.

No advice on learning to write with your dominant hand, but the bolded indicates you need a trip to the doctor - it is most likely coincidental that it is your non-dominant hand.

[that_one_girl]

Trying not to delve into the medical since that is frowned upon.
How shall I say it?
I have a medical condition, that I see the doctor for quite regularly.  He mentioned that my pain/stiffness/weakness (worse on non-dominant side, but also present on dominant side) might improve from exercise.  Ordinarily I would consult a professional for what exercises to use, but since my current insurance does not cover that, I decided I would try some activities normally performed with my dominant hand out on my non-dominant side and see if the pain/stiffness/weakness is due to disuse.

[WillyNilly]

So then yeah, try writing. You don't need a fancy penmanship book, just a pad of paper and a pen - presumably you know what the alphabet looks like in your head already. You might also try taking up a musical instrument - a two handed one. Or just make an effort to use your other hand. Try to eat with it. Try to cook with it. Try brushing your teeth with it. Try brushing your hair with it. Use it to change channels on the remote. Etc.

Bear in mind at first its not only going to be difficult, its going to exhausting. Your muscles won't be as strong or as accustomed to doing so much. But so long as you are doing small safe actions, and your Dr recommended it, etc, just use your non-dominant hand.

[KenveeB]

I would just practice writing with it. Do your grocery list with your other hand, or write little notes to yourself. You'll get better with time. If you're just needing exercise for it, you might try getting one of those squeezy balls to use.

[mmswm]

When my left-handed son had to use his right hand after is first (of four) operations on his left hand/arm, he found that writing on a chalk board or white board was far easier than trying write on paper.

[jpcher]

2.  Don't know, maybe it's too shallow for how much water goes in, so the tops freeze together.

They are solid, separate cubes when they fall into the tray.  Only afterwards do they stick together in a huge clump.  It is truely maddening!

Also could deal with the humidity in your house - I have this problem a lot more during the spring and fall (when I'm not running the A/C) than I do during the summer or winter.  You open the freezer, a fresh crop of humid air gets in, then it freezes on everything . . . repeat a whole bunch of times and you have clumpy ice.

One thing to check is how the water refills the tray -- is there a leak in there somewhere? (maybe in the tray itself?) Does the water possibly splash over a bit? Are the cubes completely frozen when they are dumped in the catch-bin?

In my work freezer, the ice tends to clump, but it's easy enough to break them apart. I noticed that when a fresh batch of ice gets dumped, the cubes are a bit damp. Of course, I get ice for water several times a day and usually swish the cubes around a bit to prevent this problem. Maybe try that?

I agree with others -- lower the temperature in your freezer a few degrees, I think this might help.