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

[Diane AKA Traska]

(I usually warm up my car for about 10 minutes before I leave for work. That defrosts the windows so I don't have to scrape plus makes the inside nice and toasty.)

There's an easier way to make scraping less of a chore, at least if you live in the US.  RainX.  Its a hydrophobic coating you apply just like spray-on car wax.  Wash the windows, spray, rub to spread it evenly, let it dry, then spray lightly with water and buff.  Turns 20 minutes of scraping into 5 minutes of scraping.  Buy it near the spray-on car wax. 

For my side mirrors, I pull a sub sandwich bag over the mirror and hold it on with a rubber band.  Pull the bag, and the frost, off before I drive away.


I park in the garage at night, but snow and ice often starts during the day while I'm at work.   And occasionally I have to work well into the evening, not leaving work until frost is forming.
[/quote]

I want to thank you for this, seriously.  We did this the other day, it snowed the next day, and scraping is SO much easier!  Some of the ice just wiped off.

[oogyda]

For biscuits:

Depending on where you live, you may be able to get "Southern Biscuit" Formula L Complete Biscuit Mix.  AWESOME!!

[mechtilde]

How were soups made before blenders? I've made pea and pumpkin soups and they required blending.

Hand mill. Or a spoon and a strainer.

In some of the "Big Houses" they would push it through a muslin cloth. It took two- each woman would hold two ends of the cloth, holding it sort of taut, and they would push it through with wooden spoons. It took a long time!

[Dazi]

I've always been a side or belly sleeper,  I actually refer to my preferred sleep position as   the superman takeoff. Even as a baby I'd pitch a fit of I was laid on my back to sleep. I had a sleep study done two years ago and the technician commented that I never slept on my back even once during the night,  besides the initial set up where I was  asked to lay on my back. I rolled as soon as I was allowed to.  He asked me about it as he thought it was a bit unusual... I guess most people switch positions frequently. I didn't sleep for three days while I was in the hospital last year after having surgery. I physically couldn't lay on my side because  the head of my bed wasn't allowed to be lowered under 30 degrees (that and morphine makes me bright eyed and bushy tailed,  instead of sleepy like a normal person). My DH said in over 10 years of being together,  he's never seen me sleep on my back either.

So a few weeks ago I woke up laying on my back.   I was confused.   Like I stated above,  I never ever sleep on my back. Never,  ever.   A few days ago,  I woke up on my back.   Again,  very confused. This morning,  I woke up on my back again. I have no idea what is going on.   Do people randomly change their sleep positions?   I've heard of people training themselves to sleep in other positions due to  injuries and such,  but they find it very difficult to change  something so ingrained.

[camlan]

I've always been a side or belly sleeper,  I actually refer to my preferred sleep position as   the superman takeoff. Even as a baby I'd pitch a fit of I was laid on my back to sleep. I had a sleep study done two years ago and the technician commented that I never slept on my back even once during the night,  besides the initial set up where I was  asked to lay on my back. I rolled as soon as I was allowed to.  He asked me about it as he thought it was a bit unusual... I guess most people switch positions frequently. I didn't sleep for three days while I was in the hospital last year after having surgery. I physically couldn't lay on my side because  the head of my bed wasn't allowed to be lowered under 30 degrees (that and morphine makes me bright eyed and bushy tailed,  instead of sleepy like a normal person). My DH said in over 10 years of being together,  he's never seen me sleep on my back either.

So a few weeks ago I woke up laying on my back.   I was confused.   Like I stated above,  I never ever sleep on my back. Never,  ever.   A few days ago,  I woke up on my back.   Again,  very confused. This morning,  I woke up on my back again. I have no idea what is going on.   Do people randomly change their sleep positions?   I've heard of people training themselves to sleep in other positions due to  injuries and such,  but they find it very difficult to change  something so ingrained.

I never sleep on my back, either. Well, there have been about 5 times that I can remember that I woke up on my back, but that's over the course of over 50 years. Side or stomach all the rest of the time. I even had the same comment after a sleep study!

While I don't have an answer for you about why or how people might change sleep positions, I'd wonder if for some reason you are physically more comfortable on your back? Something as simple as a cold that blocks your sinuses might make sleeping on your back feel better for a night or two. (Trying not to stray into medical issues here, as I don't want to get the thread locked. Just putting the idea out there.)

I am pretty sure I don't sleep on my back because it just feels like a terribly vulnerable position to me. So maybe you are feeling safer for some reason?

[Outdoor Girl]

You've lost a lot of weight; it may be that sleeping on your stomach is putting stress on your back so your body is subconsciously flipping you over so it doesn't hurt any more.

[Betelnut]

I've always been a side or belly sleeper,  I actually refer to my preferred sleep position as   the superman takeoff. Even as a baby I'd pitch a fit of I was laid on my back to sleep. I had a sleep study done two years ago and the technician commented that I never slept on my back even once during the night,  besides the initial set up where I was  asked to lay on my back. I rolled as soon as I was allowed to.  He asked me about it as he thought it was a bit unusual... I guess most people switch positions frequently. I didn't sleep for three days while I was in the hospital last year after having surgery. I physically couldn't lay on my side because  the head of my bed wasn't allowed to be lowered under 30 degrees (that and morphine makes me bright eyed and bushy tailed,  instead of sleepy like a normal person). My DH said in over 10 years of being together,  he's never seen me sleep on my back either.

So a few weeks ago I woke up laying on my back.   I was confused.   Like I stated above,  I never ever sleep on my back. Never,  ever.   A few days ago,  I woke up on my back.   Again,  very confused. This morning,  I woke up on my back again. I have no idea what is going on.   Do people randomly change their sleep positions?   I've heard of people training themselves to sleep in other positions due to  injuries and such,  but they find it very difficult to change  something so ingrained.

It is definitely possible to change your sleep position.  I used to be a stomach sleeper but got a CPAP machine.  It didn't take long to become a side sleeper.  When I have tried to stomach again, my back starts hurting.

[Betelnut]

I got an electric screwdriver to help me unscrew a door knob.  It worked well on one screw but not the other--it essentially stripped the screw.  How can I get that screw out now?

[JoW]

I got an electric screwdriver to help me unscrew a door knob.  It worked well on one screw but not the other--it essentially stripped the screw.  How can I get that screw out now?

Drill it out.

Dig out your electric drill.  Find a drill bit a little smaller than the diameter of the shaft of the screw.  Drill into the screw, then reverse the drill and pull it out.  The screw will come out with the drill bit.

If you want to use that door knob again you'll have to buy a new screw.  I'm guessing the door is wood and now the screw hole is too big.  To fix that fill the hole with wood glue or white glue (Elmer's or similar) and stick a wooden toothpick or two in the hole.  Break off the part of the toothpick that sticks out of the hole.  Let it set a day or two before you mount the new door knob. 

[Dazi]

I've always been a side or belly sleeper,  I actually refer to my preferred sleep position as   the superman takeoff. Even as a baby I'd pitch a fit of I was laid on my back to sleep. I had a sleep study done two years ago and the technician commented that I never slept on my back even once during the night,  besides the initial set up where I was  asked to lay on my back. I rolled as soon as I was allowed to.  He asked me about it as he thought it was a bit unusual... I guess most people switch positions frequently. I didn't sleep for three days while I was in the hospital last year after having surgery. I physically couldn't lay on my side because  the head of my bed wasn't allowed to be lowered under 30 degrees (that and morphine makes me bright eyed and bushy tailed,  instead of sleepy like a normal person). My DH said in over 10 years of being together,  he's never seen me sleep on my back either.

So a few weeks ago I woke up laying on my back.   I was confused.   Like I stated above,  I never ever sleep on my back. Never,  ever.   A few days ago,  I woke up on my back.   Again,  very confused. This morning,  I woke up on my back again. I have no idea what is going on.   Do people randomly change their sleep positions?   I've heard of people training themselves to sleep in other positions due to  injuries and such,  but they find it very difficult to change  something so ingrained.

I never sleep on my back, either. Well, there have been about 5 times that I can remember that I woke up on my back, but that's over the course of over 50 years. Side or stomach all the rest of the time. I even had the same comment after a sleep study!

While I don't have an answer for you about why or how people might change sleep positions, I'd wonder if for some reason you are physically more comfortable on your back? Something as simple as a cold that blocks your sinuses might make sleeping on your back feel better for a night or two. (Trying not to stray into medical issues here, as I don't want to get the thread locked. Just putting the idea out there.)

I am pretty sure I don't sleep on my back because it just feels like a terribly vulnerable position to me. So maybe you are feeling safer for some reason?

Well, I'm pretty sure I figured it out.  I have a high pain threshold in general, so sometimes I hurt and it doesn't hurt as badly as it would on someone else.  A few months ago I injured my IT Band.  It's healing quite nicely and really not bothering me nearly as much as it was, so now I hardly notice it.   When I went to bed last night, I was laying on that side and noticed a dull ache.  I think all that popping has inflamed the darn bursa sac on the side of my pelvis.

[Virg]

JoW wrote:

"If you want to use that door knob again you'll have to buy a new screw.  I'm guessing the door is wood and now the screw hole is too big."

It's most likely that the screw was holding the doorknob hardware together, and in that case the screw seats in the doorknob base on the other side of the door, not in the wood of the door itself.  For this reason, drilling it out is less likely to get the screw out, but drilling off the head will allow her to remove the doorknobs.  At that point it's most likely that she'll need to replace the knob set, but sometimes one can use pliers to get the broken screw out and then it's just buying a replacement screw.

Virg

[jpcher]

More and more as I search the net I come across videos that are labeled "HD Vimeo"

Is there some sort of software or upgrade or whatever that I need in order for these videos to play smoothly? There's always a lag in the streaming, sometimes the lag is quite lengthy to the point where I stop trying to watch the video.

All other videos play smoothly (no lag.)

I have a macbook if that makes a difference.

[StarDrifter]

More and more as I search the net I come across videos that are labeled "HD Vimeo"

Is there some sort of software or upgrade or whatever that I need in order for these videos to play smoothly? There's always a lag in the streaming, sometimes the lag is quite lengthy to the point where I stop trying to watch the video.

All other videos play smoothly (no lag.)

I have a macbook if that makes a difference.

Vimeo is slowly starting to creep in and be used as an alternative to YouTube for uploading movies, and it tends to be in HD (as the labels suggest) which would probably be what is causing the lag. HD takes longer to load and it can be very irritating if you don't want to watch in HD because your internet connection isn't quick enough to handle it.
On most of the videos there should be an option before you start to watch to select HD or SD, if you pick SD then the quality won't be quite as good, but for viewing on a computer screen SD is more than acceptable.

[jpcher]

More and more as I search the net I come across videos that are labeled "HD Vimeo"

Is there some sort of software or upgrade or whatever that I need in order for these videos to play smoothly? There's always a lag in the streaming, sometimes the lag is quite lengthy to the point where I stop trying to watch the video.

All other videos play smoothly (no lag.)

I have a macbook if that makes a difference.

Vimeo is slowly starting to creep in and be used as an alternative to YouTube for uploading movies, and it tends to be in HD (as the labels suggest) which would probably be what is causing the lag. HD takes longer to load and it can be very irritating if you don't want to watch in HD because your internet connection isn't quick enough to handle it.
On most of the videos there should be an option before you start to watch to select HD or SD, if you pick SD then the quality won't be quite as good, but for viewing on a computer screen SD is more than acceptable.

Thank you, StarDrifter!

It took me a while because there wasn't any option for SD (at least on the several videos that I checked) I realized that when I hover over the blue HD icon the cursor turned into a finger so I clicked and the icon turned white . . . and YES! the video streamed without a lag!

I kept switching back and forth to see if there was any difference in quality and of course there wasn't because my monitor isn't HD.


P.S. What does SD stand for? I know HD is High Definition . . .

[Ser Lucien Liliane]

P.S. What does SD stand for? I know HD is High Definition . . .

Standard definition, I think.