Every now and then, we inevitably regret not having learned how to do something until it is too late.
I went dressed in my casual speakeasy attire topped with a boater hat and a bow tie around my neck that I proudly tied myself.
No other fellas I spotted at the party sported a clip-on, not that anyone would razz me for wearing one if I did.
Most party guests were either too busy doing the Charleston in front of the orchestra or on a toot and getting zozzled from their glasses of giggle water by noon.
Anyway, the event was the bee's knees, and knowing that I had taken the time to learn how to tie on a bow tie made me feel like the cat's whiskers and well-suited for the convivial affair.
In order for us to prevent lamenting, "coulda, shoulda, woulda," Redditor askgamblers-official suggested that there is no time like the present to educate ourselves about anything useful that could come in handy someday.
The Original Poster (OP) asked:
"What can we learn/know right now in 10 minutes that will be useful for the rest of our life?"Remember, you can learn how to do anything, thanks to the magic of YouTube.
For Survival
"If you ever fall through the ice and are trapped underwater, aim for a dark spot. A hole in the ice will look dark."
"And if someone tries to abduct you fight like hell even if they have weapon. Your situation will not improve if they get you to a more private location."
For Saving A Life
"How to spot someone choking and how to help them."
"Takes 10 minutes to learn and could save a life."
"If you yourself are choking, a lot of people have heard the use a chair to heimlich yourself trick. To me the better and easier method is to get into a position on the ground face down arms up like your going to do a push-up. Then drop yourself to the ground to force pressure through the diaphragm."
"And if YOU are choking at a restaurant, don't run into the restroom out of embarrassment where you might die alone and unseen."
For Rescuing
"Also, how to spot someone legit drowning. It looks nothing like the movies. Head will be barely above water, with mouth bobbing slightly in and out of the water, opening and closing like a fish would. Probably won't see their hands (because they'll be moving wildly underwater), they won't be making much sound, if at all, they'll have glassy eyes with a faraway stare."
"All this adds up to a very non-Hollywood look that we're all used to. This person looks 'calm' in the water because their amygdala has taken over and they are on auto-pilot to simply stay alive. This is one of the reasons why they don't speak...speech isn't important at this point, so their brain shuts it down."
"This is also why it's extremely dangerous to personally engage a drowning person. They will drown you to save themselves and probably have no recollection of doing it. Always use a long pole, rope, flotation device, or something else onto which they can grab."
– pgymjp
For Calculating
"Percentage is interchangable. 8% of 25 is hard to do in your head but 25% of 8 is easy, and they both equal the same. works every time."
"If you think of 8% as a fraction (8/100) the reason for this is more clear. (8/100)x25 = (8x25)/100 = 8x(25/100)"
For Further Explanation
"Think of percentages in a different way. 8% is just 8/100. So 8% of 25 is 8/100 × 25. Multiplication and division are commutative, which is a fancy way of saying you can swap the order freely. So you can do 8×25/100 or 8/100×25 and it'll come out to the same thing."
– Lost-Tea
Head Explode GIF by memecandyGiphyFor Flexibility
"How to properly stretch your hands and forearms. Stretch arms straight out forward, point fingers up, then without moving arms ball a fist downward. Repeat as fast as possible.. taught indirectly from Bruce Lee"
For Silencing
"If you're somewhere quiet and your stomach is growling loudly DON'T tense up your tummy muscles, push your stomach out instead and it will make the growl quieter."
For Organizing
"How to use the sort and filter functions on Excel. These functions can help prevent a lot of future pain."
For Expectations
"Grasp the idea that everyone you meet knows something you do not."
"A wise man and a fool have a long conversation. The fool has the most to learn, but the wise man learns the most. (Sorry for not being gender neutral.)"
For Cleaning Bodily Fluids
"It's easier to clean up cum with cold water than with hot water."
"Same goes for blood on clothes or other material!"
"Meant to help out the ladies with this one... not someone plotting their next murder..."
For Picking Locks
"How to bypass a lock. It's actually very easy to get through most locked doors. Any kind of card (license, credit card, whatever) can open a regular latch. If the door opens away from you just slide it in between the door jam and door handle. The card will slide in between the mechanism and open it. If the door opens towards you it doesn't always work but you can slide the card in and down at an angle to get behind the latch and open it that way."
"Most pad locks take less than 10 seconds to get into as well but I don't know how to describe the technique with words."
– Ghriszly
For Life
"I mean, they're skills and not really wisdom but..."
"Warning signs of a stroke."
"How to use a fire extinguisher."
"Rolling your clothes after folding gives you more room in a drawer/suitcase. It's life changing."
"Righty tighty, lefty loosey."
"How to change a tire, check your oil and jump a car."
"Also changing headlights without using your fingers because the oils will damage the bulbs."
"How to start a campfire and put it out."
"The Heimlich maneuver."
"How to tie a knot more than one way."
"How to sew a basic stitch."
"The basics of emergency first aid."
"How to spot a rip tide and how to escape."
"How to shut off and turn on a circuit breaker and where they're located."
"What to do in an earthquake, tornado, tsunami and hurricane."
For CPR
"Push hard, push fast."
"Ribs WILL break if you're doing it properly on an adult (it is the most bizarre creepy thing). Kids are very bendy and you may not get that sensation if you need to do CPR on them)"
"If you need to do CPR, the person you are doing it to is dead. You can't make them more dead. You might be able to bring them back to life if you try. Do not feel bad if you can't. If you fail, you didn't kill them. They were already dead."
"If you don't have a one way valve to administer rescue breaths, STILL GIVE CHEST COMPRESSIONS. Chest compressions alone are better than nothing- you're still pumping oxygen to the areas that need it and it will suffice until EMS/help arrives."
"Giving CPR is stressful as hell. If you need to do CPR, it's likely going to be on someone you know. Sometimes gallows humour is necessary for your brain not to freak out. Chest compressions to 'Another One Bites The Dust' is the right rhythm and might get you smirking long enough to make you smirk/laugh (to yourself!) to take your mind off of what's actually happening."
"Even if a cardiac arrest happens IN hospital, their odds of survival are only about 10%- so much less so if it's outside a hospital. I say this not to make you think 'why bother' but so you know that if you are unable to resuscitate the person, it's OK and was nothing you did wrong- by even trying CPR, you gave them their best chance at life."
