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In thinking about things I've managed to teach myself, I remembered being on many occasions very thankful I always train my left hand to be as good as my right (I'm right handed), due to managing to attain many injuries to my right hand, and whenever I find myself caught up in a fight, or even typing on a computer. And along this train of thought, I started wondering the kinds of skills people here on dakka have been very thankful that they taught themselves...

So, the question is: When have you been thankful you taught yourself something, and what was it?

I'm just thankful I've been taught many things over my life, many of which were not self taught.

Selym wrote:
In thinking about things I've managed to teach myself, I remembered being on many occasions very thankful I always train my left hand to be as good as my right (I'm right handed), due to managing to attain many injuries to my right hand, and whenever I find myself caught up in a fight, or even typing on a computer. And along this train of thought, I started wondering the kinds of skills people here on dakka have been very thankful that they taught themselves...

So, the question is: When have you been thankful you taught yourself something, and what was it?

Pretty much the same thing with me, broke my arm yesterday and I'm sure glad I know how to write left handed.

Im happy i managed to learn critical thinking, to look beyond most things and anylyse them
My friends dont like it because they think im criticizing them or that im always disagreeing with them.

 DemetriDominov wrote:
I'm just thankful I've been taught many things over my life, many of which were not self taught.

Hmm, I think I shall expand my question then:

When have you been thankful you taught yourself something, or have been taught something unusual or that you thought would turn out to be useless, and what was it?

I'm trying to teach myself glass blowing, particularly for laboratory glassware. I'm not sure how useful this is but I've got a book to get me started.

How to research online...

Self taught the skill of making M&M pancakes. That proved very, VERY good to know when I was in college,

Learning that I liked learning.. After school..typical

I'm glad that I learned the skiill of chugging, or drinking excecive amounts of alcohol at any given time (I'm fairly drunk at the moment, mind you)

Proper firearm safety!

I'm quite pleased that 10 year old me decided lying wasn't bad at all, but a rather fantastic skill that deserves honing.

As to when I've been pleased for having taught myself this: all of my working life.

I second Dogma. That 'don't judge a book by it's cover' mojo is a load of bull crap. All anyone ever does is judge books by their covers

 LordofHats wrote:
I second Dogma. That 'don't judge a book by it's cover' mojo is a load of bull crap. All anyone ever does is judge books by their covers

At least with first impressions as they have nothing else to judge you on.

I've been glad to know a wide variety of the skills I've learned over the years.

First aid being rather important amongst them.

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
I've been glad to know a wide variety of the skills I've learned over the years.

First aid being rather important amongst them.

I can second that, the number of times I've found myself sliced open is remarkable
About a year ago, I went on a free "Heart Start" course, and I'm now safe in the knowledge that whenever the need arises, I can save somebody's life with CPR and/or the recovery position

I taught myself how to fix and maintain my own car. That has been nothing short of remarkably money saving for me over the last 13 years of driving. I can do just about anything time and tools depending.

I've also taught myself how to cook. When I eat a super delicious meal I'm always so pleased with myself. I know these are bland but I feel like they were the best decision I've made.

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
I'm trying to teach myself glass blowing, particularly for laboratory glassware. I'm not sure how useful this is but I've got a book to get me started.

That sounds incredibly awesome regardless of how useful it winds up being. I've seen a few videos and it looks totally intriguing.

Selym wrote:

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
I've been glad to know a wide variety of the skills I've learned over the years.

First aid being rather important amongst them.

I can second that, the number of times I've found myself sliced open is remarkable
About a year ago, I went on a free "Heart Start" course, and I'm now safe in the knowledge that whenever the need arises, I can save somebody's life with CPR and/or the recovery position

CPR, done correctly, works about one in twenty times. CPR done in the manner people are taught in first aid things works.about one in forty.

My own approach to first aid is pretty much just antiseptic and an unwavering faith in the ability of the human body to fix itself. Sometimes glue (I caught my foot on something once, walked it off, and realized a few minutes later my foot was covered in blood; I washed it off, glued the nail back together, and that was that: it healed up perfectly) or bandages, if something has to be held together.


I'm glad I learned sculpting, programming, and 3d animation. Particularly the first two, since I regularly just write up scripts to do some repetitive task for me, and being able to shape a physical object into an image of your own design is just an indescribably wonderful feeling.

I taught myself to solder in primary school - comes in handy when I have to fix something electronic (dry joint or loose wire, etc) and I'm glad I studied electronics (trade cert level) just so I can do minor repairs and stuff.

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:

CPR, done correctly, works about one in twenty times. CPR done in the manner people are taught in first aid things works.about one in forty.

My friend had to intervene 4 times. She stopped 2 drownings and 1 heart attack from being fatal. Unfortunately, CPR isn't going to be much help against a motor boat to the head, or else I'm confident she'd have a perfect record. Surely there's more to it than your statistics.

But go on, go google a site as 'proof' of what you are saying.

 Kovnik Obama wrote:

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:

CPR, done correctly, works about one in twenty times. CPR done in the manner people are taught in first aid things works.about one in forty.

My friend had to intervene 4 times. She stopped 2 drownings and 1 heart attack from being fatal. Unfortunately, CPR isn't going to be much help against a motor boat to the head, or else I'm confident she'd have a perfect record. Surely there's more to it than your statistics.

But go on, go google a site as 'proof' of what you are saying.

My mom's a nurse and even she says the chance of CPR actually saving the person's life is quite low.

 Cheesecat wrote:

 Kovnik Obama wrote:

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:

CPR, done correctly, works about one in twenty times. CPR done in the manner people are taught in first aid things works.about one in forty.

My friend had to intervene 4 times. She stopped 2 drownings and 1 heart attack from being fatal. Unfortunately, CPR isn't going to be much help against a motor boat to the head, or else I'm confident she'd have a perfect record. Surely there's more to it than your statistics.

But go on, go google a site as 'proof' of what you are saying.

My mom's a nurse and even she says the chance of CPR actually saving the person's life is quite low.

Well, if my friend's got 75% success rate when the average is 2.2%, I'll be sure to go swim where she is surveying.

Edit : this site http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/35320/35323/372221.html?d=dmtHMSContent states between 2% and 30%. Such a huge margin is indicative of a case of 'not having a fething clue', if you ask me.

2nd Edit : This site http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2002/08/20/cpr020820.html says 22%. Anyway, this is 22% more chances of survival then you had before. Even if it was 2%, you'd be a moron not to take it.

Considering how often the recommended CPR method is changed like the current move to no breaths, I'd agree with Herr Kovnik that "not having a fething clue" describes most CPR data. Too much variance in recommended methods, how you actually do gak in the field, etc

 Kovnik Obama wrote:

 Cheesecat wrote:

 Kovnik Obama wrote:

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:

CPR, done correctly, works about one in twenty times. CPR done in the manner people are taught in first aid things works.about one in forty.

My friend had to intervene 4 times. She stopped 2 drownings and 1 heart attack from being fatal. Unfortunately, CPR isn't going to be much help against a motor boat to the head, or else I'm confident she'd have a perfect record. Surely there's more to it than your statistics.

But go on, go google a site as 'proof' of what you are saying.

My mom's a nurse and even she says the chance of CPR actually saving the person's life is quite low.

Well, if my friend's got 75% success rate when the average is 2.2%, I'll be sure to go swim where she is surveying.

Edit : this site http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/35320/35323/372221.html?d=dmtHMSContent states between 2% and 30%. Such a huge margin is indicative of a case of 'not having a fething clue', if you ask me.

2nd Edit : This site http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2002/08/20/cpr020820.html says 22%. Anyway, this is 22% more chances of survival then you had before. Even if it was 2%, you'd be a moron not to take it.

Oh yeah, I'm not saying you shouldn't try I mean if a person's in danger you should try to help him/her out to the best of your ability.

 Cheesecat wrote:

Oh yeah, I'm not saying you shouldn't try I mean if a person's in danger you should try to help him/her out to the best of your ability.

Exactly. It's just expecting it to be some magical foolproof method, as it's generally portrayed, is just setting up for a rather traumatic realization of its shortcomings.

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
Considering how often the recommended CPR method is changed like the current move to no breaths, I'd agree with Herr Kovnik that "not having a fething clue" describes most CPR data. Too much variance in recommended methods, how you actually do gak in the field, etc

What, no more insufflations? Feth you very much, Ambulance St-Jean, for failing me for not remembering the right numbers at the right time.

 Kovnik Obama wrote:

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
Considering how often the recommended CPR method is changed like the current move to no breaths, I'd agree with Herr Kovnik that "not having a fething clue" describes most CPR data. Too much variance in recommended methods, how you actually do gak in the field, etc

What, no more insufflations? Feth you very much, Ambulance St-Jean, for failing me for not remembering the right numbers at the right time.

That's what the American Heart Association told me last time I got certified for work. I was highly confused cause it's all ways been breaths and thrusts. Now you just hammer the person's chest till they die, come out of it or someone competent takes. over apparently I feel like ditching breaths kinda misses part of the point doesn't it?

Every night. The Stranger.

I taught myself to read upside-down quite proficiently.

It's not like my life will ever be in danger and my only hope is to read aloud a poster while hanging by my feet, but I am thankful for it every time I go to a restaurant and there is only one menu per table...