What's the best wax-on-wax-off-style advice you've heard that you can attest as being helpful in certain situations?

My dad put a cup of water in my car during tofu deliveries to a hill resort. He said it was to ensure the tofu didn't get damaged in transit. But he was secretly developing my downhill racing technique. Apparently if I didn't spill the water, it meant that my cornering technique was 'smooth'.

Also the kiddie version of 'wax on wax off' is 'hang your jacket on the hook, take your jacket off the hook'.

Initial D!

Also, that technique has no real-world application. The father told him to try and make the water spin in the cup instead of splashing back and forth. But that's not possible just from driving a vehicle, no matter how you drift corners.

I lived in Japan back when that anime TV show was releasing, and I can tell you, it's pure fantasy. Although it's much closer to real Japanese street racing than that awful Tokyo Drift film. That film was basically American street racing with Japanese actors. Actual Japanese street racers are science, math, and physics nerds, pushing the boundaries of their cars for the fun of it. Not hardened gangsters or Yakuza wannabes, decking their cars out with neon lights and massive spoilers and body kits. Hollywood invented their own concept of drift racing for that film.
- What i dont quite understand is that if the street racers wanted to go up or down as fast as possible, why did they drift?
  
  Its not like drifting is any faster than racing with grip but maybe that was like a cultural obligation if you wanted to participate?
  
  Initial D is a great anime non the less :)
- I mean... using the water as an indicator for directional Gs is technically correct lol.
  
  It won't help you learn to drift better, but it does work as a bargain basement indicator for roughness of driving, which could be important if you're moving food and don't want it to spill.
  
  Alternatively, you could just use a car with good suspension and not drive like a maniac lol.
- You lived in Japan but you seem to ignore the existence of the bosozoku when you say that people don't deck their cars (motorcycles too) out with ridiculous body kits?

"Always let a horse know where you are."

Accidentally surprising a horse can lead to sudden injury and/or hilarious internet videos. When moving around them, it's a good idea to talk quietly to them (or to yourself) so that they can hear you and know where you are. if you have to get up close to one, gently place your hand or forearm against them as you move past.

The same advice works if you are around someone concentrating on a physical task like cooking, construction, soldering, etc, especially if they are holding something that could hurt if it poked you. You want them to know where you are without breaking their concentration.

It's actually best to stay in contact with a horse if you're moving around near it. Approach from where it can see you, say hello and pet it, then keep your body touching its body while you move around its backside. That lets the horse know exactly where you are, and if it does decide to kick you, then you're right up on it and it'll just push you away rather than gaining full momentum and cracking your skull.
- Also good advice. There's an area my buddy affectionately referred to as "the kill zone" which is just the right distance away that a kicking hoof can be at full velocity/force; this is precisely where you do not want to be if a kick happens.
  but the best advice is to learn things like this from someone In Real Life around horses, because you can see which ones are totally chill and which ones are fucking bonkers. [Insert reference to various kinds of people here.]
Professional kitchens do this. Well some, at least.

To avoid collisions with other staff members scurrying around a busy kitchen, it's considered polite to clearly say, "Behind," as you pass behind another person. This is even more important if you are carrying a full tray of food, a hot pan, or a rack of glassware.

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/article/511/kitchen-slang-phrases.html
- When I worked in a kitchen, i was taught to say "Knife!" any time I was moving from one station to another holding a knife, same with "hot pan". The person who trained me did not respond verbally when I asked if there were any particular reasons for the "knife!" instruction, but I heard from others that there was good reason for it.

Not exactly what you want but I heard about people in the military practising things and they learn. "Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast."

By doing that it makes you quicker. Sometimes when I'm late and start rushing I end up forgetting things or knocking things over or dropping. So I take a breath and say slow is fast. Also my career history is big on "right first time" doing something twice is a huge waste.

Also I remember Adam Savage said he got close to death (or was getting close to being rescued from death) then he told himself "Calm people live. Tense people die." and he managed to free himself.

Taking a moment might not just save you time or money it might save your life.

It was far from a life and death situation, as it was a highly controlled activity.

But it was meant to mimic a life and death situation for practice: Anyone who travel by helicopter in the North Sea are required to go through this course which includes an emergency water landing drill. It involves sitting inside this thing that is reasonably close to one of the common helicopter models used in the north sea. Same seats, same belts, and similar windows.

This "simlator" hangs from a crane over a pool. So that you can practice escaping from a ditched helicopter. "Brace brace brace!" dunk
This is done while wearing a survival suit that has a rebreather. Each passenger has a dedicated scuba frogman to make sure you don't panic and drown.

First dunk emulates a successful water landing. Helicopter remains floating for a while, but then goes under. Release window, unclamp, and swim out.

It gradually increases in fuckery, to the poin where it's emulating a helicopter that goes under right away and flips around as it does.

I'm fairly light weight, so this survival suit gives me a lot of buoyancy, and this collar-like thing around my neck tended to catch on the window as I was going through. In the beginning, this was not a problem, but it became a pretty big one on the last test.

The disorientation from being flipped made it hard to compensate for the extra buoyancy, so I got stuck, upside down in the water. I immediately knew what happened, but I remained calm, moved back a little bit. With one hand to keep track of the window, I used my other hand to pretty much pack and squeeze collar as close to my neck as possible, preventing it from catching. There was no panic, but there was a slight worry that the frogman hadn't intervened. Thanks to the rebreather I could stay pretty calm and focus on what needed to be done to get through the window.

When I reached the surface the frogman explained that he saw that I was having some problems, but decided to let me continue, as he saw that I was calm and reasonably in control. In a real scenario such as this, panic would've killed me.

Slow is smooth. Smooth is survivable.
- That sounds like a really cool experience. What were you doing that required such training?
Also works well for downhill mountainbiking. Repeating "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" helps avoid sketchy situations through gnarly/dangerous terrain.

What is "wax-on-wax-off-style advice"?

In the karate kid film, the sensi has him waxing a car. He complains that it is useless make-work. A bit later on, he gets into a fight. The waz-on-wax-off motion was actually a block to a punch in the face. The constant practice trained muscle memory, and power, allowing him to implement it perfectly.

In short, it's an apparently useless practice, that trains a useful skill better than direct practice.
Practicing an easily-grasped task in order to gain proficiency in a more daunting one.

Have you not seen The Karate Kid?
- The Karate Kid was released 40 years ago

This one time, during the 80s, I watched a lot of popular movies of mediocre quality, and now I can participate in cultural shorthanded discussion on the internet.

As a professional juggler practised early on to do things with either hand - whether it's washing dishes or putting a key in the door.. just paying attention to how you do things. Now can take juggle 3 balls in either hand

Not sure if this counts, but every single time I went camping or hiking while in the scouts, our leader or guides would always mention not taking off your clothes if you got lost. It was constantly re-stated throughout most of my childhood, and it just never made much sense.

With YouTube and other websites giving us more info, I eventually learned that hypothermia can make you feel hot as well as making you delirious, so you may want to remove your clothes despite freezing temperatures. So now the advice of not getting naked when lost in the woods makes sense. Not sure how well one would be able to follow it, though, if they're delirious and not thinking rationally... But it's still good advice.

Taking off clothes is important though.

I'm from a snowy, cold country, but people who aren't often think that a very heavy jacket is all they need. And then if they get lost with a jacket like that, they'll overheat, meaning they might want to take it off, but without it, they won't have enough protection from the cold, just like a jeans and t-shirt underneath.

The solution is to have lots of layers which you can open/remove when needed so as to adjust your temperature.

Unlike one would think, walking even in the coldest of weathers, your body generates heat, and a lot of it. And if you put on very insulating winter clothing while you're doing a strenuous physical exercise, you're very likely to get heatstroke.

At the point where hypothermia makes you delirious you're pretty much lost anyway unless someone finds you very promptly.

So feeling like wanting to lighten winter clothing when walking in freezing weather is normal, listen to your body. Just don't get naked while not moving, mkay.