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

[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.

[Carotte]

Regarding kids and non-dominant hand, try presenting it as a game. Use coloring or solving a maze, then drawing and maybe writing.
If the kid is old enough (I'd say from 7 y/old and on), make it a challenge, doing the same exercise day after day, for say a week, then compare the earliest and the oldest 'work', it's likely to be really improved. The brain, at that age even more, is really flexible and will pick it up in no time. 10 min a day and you'll see improvement (I used to do this when I was bored in class, writting the same line or doodling, or even just trying to take notes) but you do loose it quickly if you don't practice.
It's a good exercise because it forces the brain to adapt and use/create new neurological pathways.

[Slartibartfast]

Okay, I'll admit I come late to the whole Apple product family, but this doesn't seem like it should be so hard . . .

I have a PC, an iPad, and a new-to-me iPod Nano.  Through iTunes on my PC, I burned a few actual physical CDs.  How do I get these to show up on my iPod and/or iPad?  They show up in iTunes just fine, but all the advice I've found online assumes transferring songs I've purchased through the Cloud (and these weren't purchased through iTunes) or assumes what I assume is an old version of iTunes and tells me to use the "sync" button (which mine doesn't have, even buried in a menu somewhere).  The songs I bought through iTunes show up just fine, but I can't even find an option to transfer over the others.

[RingTailedLemur]

Okay, I'll admit I come late to the whole Apple product family, but this doesn't seem like it should be so hard . . .

I have a PC, an iPad, and a new-to-me iPod Nano.  Through iTunes on my PC, I burned a few actual physical CDs.  How do I get these to show up on my iPod and/or iPad?  They show up in iTunes just fine, but all the advice I've found online assumes transferring songs I've purchased through the Cloud (and these weren't purchased through iTunes) or assumes what I assume is an old version of iTunes and tells me to use the "sync" button (which mine doesn't have, even buried in a menu somewhere).  The songs I bought through iTunes show up just fine, but I can't even find an option to transfer over the others.

Connect up the iPod/iPad to the computer, then click on that device when it appears in iTunes.

The sync button is at the bottom, you might have to scroll.  It's quite small.

[Slartibartfast]

Okay, I'll admit I come late to the whole Apple product family, but this doesn't seem like it should be so hard . . .

I have a PC, an iPad, and a new-to-me iPod Nano.  Through iTunes on my PC, I burned a few actual physical CDs.  How do I get these to show up on my iPod and/or iPad?  They show up in iTunes just fine, but all the advice I've found online assumes transferring songs I've purchased through the Cloud (and these weren't purchased through iTunes) or assumes what I assume is an old version of iTunes and tells me to use the "sync" button (which mine doesn't have, even buried in a menu somewhere).  The songs I bought through iTunes show up just fine, but I can't even find an option to transfer over the others.

Connect up the iPod/iPad to the computer, then click on that device when it appears in iTunes.

The sync button is at the bottom, you might have to scroll.  It's quite small.

My iPod is physically hooked up and my iPad should be available via wifi, but neither of them show up anywhere I can see in iTunes.  I found a "devices" menu which has "sync" as one of the choices, but the entire menu is grayed out.  I've been reading about iTunes Match, which purports to let you copy music from a CD to your iPod, but it requires using Cloud and I don't think my iPod nano has that capability.  (Plus I'm not keen on paying $25/year to get access to songs I already own!)

[StarDrifter]

Okay Slarti -let's try and see if we can make iTunes palatable.

(I have a similar setup to you - iPad, iPod and a Windows computer running iTunes.)

First thing - are you running the most recent version of iTunes? If you've got a new Nano then unless you're running the newest version of iTunes it might not like 'talking' to it. The update options will be in one of the top menus - look for 'check for updates'.

When you first connect each device to the computer it should make iTunes pop up and say 'Hey! You've got a new iDevice! Let's give it a name and put some stuff onto it!'. If it didn't do that then you might have to search for each device manually.

When I plug my iPad in (I use a physical cable to connect it most of the time, the Wi-fi sync can be patchy, I've found) it will make iTunes pop up and it will give me a page with various options arrayed at the top of the iTunes window - Summary, Info, Apps, Music, Movies etc etc. By clicking on each option I can see what of each category is going on.

The 'Summary' page has an image of the iPad (it knows that mine is a white 32gb wi-fi only, but it also recognises that Husband's is a black 16gb, and shows a different image). There's a bar at the bottom with different colours in it showing what of each type of media is taking up space and how much spare space I have.

With the music thing, when I click on the Music tab it has a tickbox at the top - 'sync music' and then under that 'entire library' or 'selected playlists'. This is likely where your issues with the music transfer have come up - if you can play the music from the burned CD's through your computer then you should be able to sync them to the iPod by putting them into a playlist and syncing that playlist.

Feel free to PM me if you have more detailed questions - but there is also the option of the iTunes Tutorials in the Help menu - when I first got my iPad I went through that one and found some features that I would have otherwise skipped over entirely.