h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Never be afraid to make a decision.

Don't mess around with dodgy women and don't waste your time on Shandy!!

You can't make other people do what you want.

> >Never get involved in a land war in Asia

> Unless you name is Genghis

Or Alexander

parents are quite often right but for a lot of that stuff you have to be a parent yourself to realise it...

But I'll second the OP. Never, ever ever pass up the chance for a pee. Or to sleep. Or to eat. Learn to catnap.

Change your socks every day and make sure your boots are laced up comfortably.

Condoms have lots and lots of uses beyond that for which they are intended.

Always have a book with you to save you from boredom.

Learning vocab always always pays off in the end.

Hard work is it's own reward.
There are no shortcuts.
Never buy cheap binbags.

Never buy binbags.

Don't pet the sweaty things and don't sweat the petty things.

When considering ways to deal with a situation, always consider the 'Do nothing' option.

Never juggle with red-handled fire clubs.

Sho: "Condoms have lots and lots of uses beyond that for which they are intended."

Rudest Elf: "Never buy binbags."

Interesting thread!

eek!

Carefully check the integrity of the handles on large pots *before* attempting to pour all the boiling water in them down the sink.

Learned today to my great and current pain

Similar, nowhere near as painful, but far more embarrassing:

When doing some plumbing work on the kitchen sink, before pouring the large bowl of mucky water that you've accumulated down said sink, make sure you've re-attached the u-bend.

Always use sunscreen.

http://www.killermovies.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-386844-always-wear-sunscreen.html

You didn't see the lightning speed strip naked I had to do hygenicdispenser - that would have been highly embarassing if there had been guests.

I think everyone who's done u-bend style plumbing has learned that lesson the hard way. I know I have.

Good to know it's not just me. I hope you're not too badly scalded?

No, luckily I was only wearing a thin dressing gown. Not normally the sort of thing you should wear when making jam, but in this instance it was easily rip-offable and so in-fact ideal.

I have a small scald on my hand and stomach and a quite nasty one on my chest which is now starting to blister. I couldn't jump in the cold shower really quickly enough as when it happened I was prevented from entering the rest of the house by a lake of boiling water on the floor (I was barefooted).

I must remember to risk-assess my cooking in the future

keep cooling it even though you think it's too late. Just keep cooling it and cooling it and cooling it. Then cool it some more.
Blimey, that could have been nasty.

'Loss' is a fundamental of life, so keep your gallows humour well honed.

(I badly scalded my arm over the summer with boiling water from a spaghetti accident, so *sympathies* Orcus. I now only remove spaghetti using tongs from the pan on the stove into a sieve. I did manage to get cold water on it quickly though, to reduce the damage from the heat penetrating down. I kept adding antiseptic solution to the blisters..cos an infection would not be nice. A couple of months on, and it's fully healed.

It should be fine, but yeah its really unpleasant as an experience.)

I heard that iron* can help, because of, er, physical properties of the metal.

* like pressing a block of iron against the scald, not eating spinach.