Moderately off-topic (but, you know, hey), disposals and college students DO NOT MIX. My husband's second roommate never really learned to clean up after himself: he'd leave dishes all over the place, pans on the stove. One day the kitchen really stank. Husband took out the trash. Cleaned out the fridge. Did the dishes. Still stank. Moved the stand-alone cabinet to look for dead rodents (none). Finally, the disposal came to mind. I made him look. Sure enough: compost. We opened the window, turned the water on high, hit the disposal switch. Whew! What a smell! Thankfully, with the food gone, the smell left in minutes.

We figure the roommate had never used a disposal before, that his parents would notice the food down the sink and turn it on for him.