Month: December 2021

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Doctors Divulge Little-Known Facts From The Gross Side Of Human Biology

Human biology is a fascinating trove of grossness, but it’s grossness most of us don’t encounter.

For the majority of us, our in-depth exploration of biology stops once we’re out of school. We live the rest of our lives focused on our own biology, maybe that of close family members or partners and that’s about it.

But medical professionals spend their days surrounded by human weirdness and they want you to know that yes, humans are gross.

It’s perfectly natural.

Reddit user “Bitictac” asked: 

“Doctors of reddit, what’s the weirdest/grossest fact about the human body that no one seems to know?” 

If you’re squeamish, we’re going to suggest you go ahead and back out of this article now. We will  be getting very up close and way too personal as we talk about all sorts of bodily fluids and functions.

Proceed with caution.

Cartman Was Right?!

“Not a doctor. Nurse here. If you have a bad gastro-intestinal obstruction you can vomit feces.”

– fire4ashz

“This happened to me once after I accidentally ingested some poisonous mushroom. Yes it was as awful as it sounds.”

– komandanto_en_bovajo

“Had a guy when I was out doing wilderness med that ate too many MREs (which essentially operate as the exact opposite of a laxative) and his breath smelled awful and he had severe abdominal pain.”

“We realized he had a GI block from the MRE food turning into a brick in his intestines and his breath was because his sh*t was flowing back into his stomach since it couldn’t leave his body.”

– nukeularkupcake

Inside Out

“Old ladies often have prolapse of their pelvic organs.”

“This means their vaginal walls got so weak that it can no longer support their bladder or uterus. A grade 4 prolapse is when it’s really sticking the heck out of their vagina like an alien head. -Nurse practitioner”

– vespertinas

“Happened to me after having 4 kids in 4 years. Had a hysterectomy at 29.”

– thefrozenfew

“Before modern surgery to help relieve that, you’d get a wooden mushroom looking thing to insert to push and hold things back up there.”

“In poor areas, root vegetables could be used.”

“Not everyone gets surgery now, so there are still silicone versions of it in use to this day.” 

– paperconservation101

Move Over

“When a patient gets a kidney transplant, they usually leave the old 2 behind unless there’s a significant problem with them.”

“The extra kidney is just tucked in the peritoneum leaving the patient with 3 kidneys.”

– Medicaljargon-itis

“The kidney comes with the renal artery, vein, and the ureter still attached, so all they have to do is hook it up to the iliac vein/artery and the bladder. Like they really just plug that bad boy in and then let it be.”

“I watched a video of a transplant and it was way easier than I ever would have imagined it would be.”

– shineymermaid

“Honestly I’d be annoyed about the kidney thing. I don’t want extra organs in my body.”

– shicole3

Black Hairy Tongue

“Dental student here. Black hairy tongue is a common condition and it’s exactly what it sounds like.”

“It’s just caused by buildup of dead skin that becomes hair like because of tobacco use or antibiotic use. Usually combined with lack of frictional forces from brushing/scraping the tongue.”

– Alarm-Potential

“My very first patient at the hospital had black hairy tongue & I was just shocked.”

– neqailaz

Mucosa

“Lips are made of a membrane called mucosa.”

“The anal sphincter, the nostrils, the glans of the penis, urethras, and the vagina are also made out of mucosal membrane. Pretty much any of your super delicate skin that is often wet is mucosa.”

“It’s often used in areas where a little protection could be used, since the cells in mucosal membranes are really densely packed. They also often secrete some form of mucous (lubrication, boogers, saliva, etc).”

“It’s all the same tissue. It all feels pretty much the same. Do with that what you will.”

– Oisillion

“So if they ask me to kiss their a**, I can just kiss them in the lips?”

– Mr_Skeleton_Shadow

“I think you’ve just ruined kissing for everyone forever.”

– TiredGayAtheist

“… Speak for yourself.” 

– blamethepunx

A Leaky Nose & A Blood Plug

“You can leak brain fluid (csf) out your nose because there’s a bone with a bunch of holes for your olfactory (smell) nerves called the cribiform plate.”

– philthy333

“I remember a one-off character in Grey’s Anatomy that was leaking csf from his nose! Thank you for explaining it.”

– outrunmyself

“Leaking brain fluid… that made me want to disintegrate…” 

– uhdontaskme

“To help you not have nightmares, it’s pretty rare and you’d probably know – the photophobia and headache that go along with it are pretty bad.”

“That doesn’t stop people from thinking they have it when in fact they have allergic rhinitis, or they’ve not realized that the sinuses can fill up with fluid, and when they dump that fluid they can dump quite a lot.”

“There’s two angles your sinuses are most likely to leak from too for most people – eyes straight down, and looking straight up. Tilt your head about about 10 degrees.”

“In the unlikely event that you are actually leaking brain fluid, it’s actually surprisingly simple to fix for most people.”

“Usually it just takes a little bit of your own blood. It’s squirted into the spinal fluid and the blood clot it forms seals the hole up.”

“You become your own tire plug.” 

– PavlovaPalava

“Holy sh*t I may have had this done when I had meningitis!”

“They shot my own blood into my face and I was too out of it to know what was happening other than being confused why they took my blood only to put it back in me.”

– PsychedelicWeaselGun

We’re Basically Cuttlefish

“Every single melanocyte on your skin (you know, the ones that give your hairs color, and your skin its skin color) is connected to your sympathetic nervous system via modified synapses.”

“No-one knows why they’re connected that way – but we do know that under stress, those nerves nuke the pool of stem cells that create hair pigment, which is why it makes your hair go grey.”

“A few mutations and you could, theoretically, be able to control them and change color like a chameleon.”

“So in many ways, we’re basically walking cuttlefish.”

– PavlovaPalava

The Most Doctor Answer

“The thing with this question is, I don’t know what people consider gross or weird.”

“Lots of questions about pooping, but that’s neither gross nor weird to me; its a bodily function.”

“I have stories about gross stuff that made me gag, but I wouldn’t consider any normal bodily function gross.”

– Gk786

“This is the most doctor answer ever. I’m sure most doctors are so desensitized that they don’t know what normal people even consider gross.”

– Ya_boii_95

Vagina Bleach

“One that a lot of men don’t tend to know: the vaginas discharge can bleach underwear, even black underwear.”

“It’s perfectly natural and normal.”

– ahumanpileofgarbage

If you’re a medical professional with an interesting or gross human body fact to share, let’s meet in the comments!

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Therapists Describe Fascinating Facts About Human Psychology

Humans have long been obsessed with exploring outward. People have always roamed the earth to see what there was to see.

And in the last 50+ years, we’ve launched into outer space, charting sights and objects further away than we can even comprehend.

But we don’t have to go further than our own skulls to witness things just as mysterious.

Redditor WaterPide is clearly aware of this and wanted some help uncovering a bit more knowledge about it all.

They asked:

“Therapists of reddit, what are some interesting psychological facts about humans?”

One therapist was fascinated by irrationality.

“Something that makes me wonder how we survived as a species and then answers my question at the same time:

“People will adhere to what they believe to be true over what they know to be true.”

“Politics, religion, anxiety, depression, staying with an abuser are all examples. Even when they are able to state what they know, their beliefs interfere and that cognitive dissonance will resolve closer to their belief.”

“As a therapist, it’s my job to help them know what they know and slowly alter their beliefs to be more consistent with what they know. Too quick of a change strengthens the belief system.”

“It amazes me every time a patient has an epiphany and then almost immediately reverts.” — symp4thy

Someone else brought up another example.

“Most maladaptive things that people get stuck in likely saved their life at some point. Most humans don’t do things to hurt themselves intentionally.”

“Examples: self harm may keep someone from attempting suicide to reduce pain or shift emotional pain to physical pain, which may be more ‘manageable;’ someone with an eating disorder likely developed it to cope with intensive trauma or feelings of a loss of control in their life; someone’s anxiety feels like it can them ‘safe” from being hurt.”

“Seeing people through this lens helps me never get frustrated with people because they are doing what they had to do to survive. Either consciously or unconsciously, it makes sense.” — Luci_purr666

That theme continued.

“All behavior has a purpose.”

“An extension of this: there is no such thing as people being lazy. If people aren’t doing something others think they should, it’s for a reason, even if said person doesn’t know that reason either.”

“It might be an avoidance tactic, a learned behavior, or even their body/mind feeling overwhelmed and requiring rest before they take on different tasks.”

“Following that, if people are trying to rest and get nagged nonstop, they never actually get to rest and hence, never get to build up the energy to tackle the things on their to-do lists.” — Pages57

But then there were those who mentioned promising methods. 

“Motivational Interviewing exists for a reason.”

“I constantly run across comments on Reddit that say things like ‘If your therapist isn’t telling you to get out of this relationship NOW, then you need a new therapist!’ But humans have a tendency to dig their heels in when told to do something they feel ambivalent about.”

“There are ways to help people realize what’s going to be best for them that DON’T involve giving straight advice. In fact I’d say giving straight advice can be one of the least effective methods for a lot of people/issues.”

“And these people in our office probably have a dozen friends ALREADY giving them that advice, and they’re still not acting on it.”

“I’m a clinical psychologist.” — revolutionutena

And that wasn’t the only promising approach.

“I am a parent child psychotherapist. I work with children under 6 and their caregivers who have experienced trauma. In a nutshell, the healing comes from the caregiver talking to the child about what happened.”

“We call it ‘speaking the unspeakable.’ Basically young children know something bad is going on; domestic violence, abuse, neglect, loss, and they need a grown up to help them play and talk about it, otherwise they make up their own stories about what is going on and its often totally incorrect and self blaming.”

“Infants, toddlers and preschoolers have the capacity to be talked to about scary things. They can handle it if the adult can find a way to regulate through the re-telling and tolerate the subsequent emotions.”

“I’ve explained addiction, severe neglect, loss, and emotional abuse to 3 and 4 year olds. They are amazing and can handle it.” — Jacsheagood

One method was less transparent.

“psychiatric nurse here. redirection is a hell of a skill. for example, we had a patient screaming at us and peacocking, just ready to fight someone. he had glasses on his head and i mentioned i liked them. he said ‘i need them to read books.’ “

“i asked him about the books he read and we had a whole discussion about that and he completely forgot what he was angry about.”

“learning about it in school i was super skeptical, but seeing it work and using it often is incredible. sometimes a small distraction from our feelings is all we need.” — speedlimits65

One approach verges on the physical body. 

“The more senses you can engage in an anxiety reduction strategy, the better it will work.”

“Like the poster mentioned earlier, your brain does not differentiate why it is ramping the nervous system up. So you have to send it the clear message that this is a safe moment to not be hyperaroused.” — Coffeephreak

And then there were those who shared intriguing factoids. 

“Although there is no way to bring back the memories, playing music to dementia sufferers can bring back the feelings. The study was prompted when a dementia sufferer started crying happy tears to a song.”

“He told the care staff that he had no idea why but he felt really happy. His wife later identified the song as the one she walked down the aisle to on her wedding day.” — RaysAreBaes

Not all were so closely tied to therapy. 

“sitting at an unstable table or chair makes you feel like your conversations (and relationships with the person you are talking to) are rocky, unpredictable, and unstable as well.”

“on the flip side, holding a warm drink makes you feel warmth and friendliness with the people you are talking to.”

“translation: if you need to have a serious talk with someone, give them a warm drink and make sure their chair is level” — hugerefuse

We close with a couple head-scratchers.

“Your eyes can actually see your nose and it would take up more of the corners of your vision had your brain not trained itself to ignore it.”

“Basically, your brain learns to filter out information it finds not useful.”

“Also, our memory is so vulnerable to decay that when you remember something from a while ago, you’re probably just remembering the last time you thought about it instead of the actual event itself.” — IamMayFields

It’s a list that might make you feel a little skeptical about what you yourself are thinking.

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People Divulge Their Best Passive Income Sources

Not all of us make enough money from our jobs to survive. That’s why the side hustle, a means of making money alongside one’s main form of employment or income, has become such a thing.

Everyone seems to have one! But you know the saying, “Work smart, not hard,” don’t you?

That’s ideal… but first you have to figure out what to do and how to do it in such a way that you don’t compromise your main source of income. Oh, and hopefully it’s steady enough that you don’t have to worry yourself too much (or devote too much time to it)!

People told us all their tips and tricks after Redditor Kenneth0233 asked the online community:

“Smart people of Reddit, what are your best ideas for passive income?”

“I’ll give you a serious answer…”

“I’ll give you a serious answer, that did me well. Goes for people learning or that know a second language.”

“Find some public domain books, translate them. You now have rights over the translation. Get it into a library. Profit.”

“Works really well if you’re from an obscure part of the world undergoing political turmoil (Georgia, Armenia, Ex-Yugoslavia) that has been talked about in the media the past 30 years. University students will need primary sources, and there is a lack of supply.” ~ AjdeBrePicko

“Put ads on your car.”

“Put ads on your car. A friend has a large sticker on their passenger side door for a local business and they give him $100 a month to just have it there.” ~ fraxinnus

“Put 15 percent of earnings…”

“Learn to manage your finances and avoid debt.”

“Always be judicial with loyalty to any employer. Blind loyalty can bite you in the ass. If times get hard you are expendable. If you get a different offer of employment don’t reject it out of current loyalties but do weigh your options.”

“Put 15 percent of earnings into investments. An easily obtained seven percent yearly average will double your input in 20 years. 40 years would be near 5 times the principal.

“More aggressive investments could be much higher. 12 percent is a reasonably attainable average and the same 40-year investment would be over 18 times the principal. $400 per month for 40 years at 12 percent will net you $3.5 million on a $200 K investment.”

“Don’t underestimate the power of compound interest. When your money makes money is when true wealth happens.” ~ Birdapotamus

“If you have a bunch of cash…”

“If you have a bunch of cash, the best vehicle for passive income is and will almost always be municipal bonds in the state where you live. Federal tax-free, almost always state income tax-free, and will net you a pretty good chunk of cash if you find the right bonds.” ~ betterthanamaster

“Buy a partnership in a business…”

“Buy a partnership in a business that is already managed. You can be a passive partner in the business, but there are some rules that apply to passive partners that don’t apply to regular partners that can make this a headache, especially if the business losses money.” ~ betterthanamaster

“Not exactly passive…”

“Not exactly passive, but very low effort: house sit. I live in a decent area, near a good-sized city with affluent suburbs.”

“I get paid for basically hanging out, keeping an eye on the place, and taking care of a few pets, which to me is enjoyable, since I love animals and can’t have them where I live. I always choose places that are convenient for me to get to and also to commute to my job.”

“I house sat as a favor to a friend of a friend, and she gave me great references and recommended me to other people in her fairly affluent circle. I end up house sitting quite a lot at certain times of the year, and in really nice places. This might not be NO effort, but it sure as hell doesn’t feel like work.” ~ saltygirltarot

“If you’re artistic in any manner…”

“If you’re artistic in any manner, digital files you put to a marketplace are a good way to make a small side income. Though usually if you are artistically inclined you’ll also spend money on the hobby and so the first few years your income will probably be put straight back into it.” ~ Daelis

“Buy real estate.”

“Buy real estate. You can use tons of low-interest debt to buy it, you get depreciation and other tax benefits, and your tenants will pay off your mortgages and build up your equity in addition to giving you cash flow.”

“There are lots of good strategies, but no need to reinvent the wheel. This one works for dumb and smart people alike.” ~ [deleted]

“Educate yourself…”

“Educate yourself and don’t be afraid of work.”

“If you’re handy, look into real estate. If you’re techy there are ways to invest in dropshipping or Amazon affiliate businesses. If you’ve got the money you can afford to lose look into paper investments and crypto.”

“If you’ve got money you can’t afford to lose but don’t need for a while, look into bond ladders. In the end, educating yourself will pay bigger dividends than asking someone else what to do and nobody can tell you what your risk tolerance or work ethic is.” ~ yanbu

“Pay someone to manage it…”

“Own property and rent it out. Pay someone to manage it for you for a small percentage of your profits and/or in exchange for living there.” ~ [deleted]

“I check for smaller businesses…”

“I check for smaller businesses struggling with their websites/non-existent websites, create one that seems to be fitting for their apparent type of line, and market it to them – if they seem to be fine with it, I give them a contract to pretty much rent the website.”

“A lot of active work goes in, but fairly priced it will pay well in a long run.” ~ lymdyxdx

And there you have it.

If you want to make some money, you’ll have to spend some money.

And some forms of passive income also requite some amount of active work to get going.

So what are you waiting for?

Go make that coin!

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People Confess The Real Reason Why They Quit Their Job This Year

This year, an incredible amount of people quit their jobs. So many people left that media have started calling it The Great Resignation.

In August, 4.3 million workers voluntarily quit their jobs according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some believe that people are quitting in droves because of government supplements available during the pandemic are being taken advantage of, but that may not be the whole story.

While many are calling this a labor shortage, others are pointing to low wages for customer service work like restaurant workers, retailors, and hospitality workers, who are at hire risk for contracting COVID.

With so many people quitting, we wanted to know what was the final straw for the 4.3 million people who walked away.

Redditor daraand asked:

“Why did you quit your job this year?”

Here’s what The Great Resignation is really all about.

Too much stress.

“72 hour weeks, was stressed out constantly. Kept getting passed over for promotions.” – basic-fatale

“…this, plus the a**holes who made everyday miserable for me.” – sirlongbottom441

“Bloody hell. This makes me appreciate some of the employment laws we have in place. Anything above 48 hours is illegal, regardless if it’s on your contract or not. Your employer can ask but you’re in no obligation to accept.”

“This is in the UK.” – steelcity91

Goodbye retail.

“Found one that is Monday to Friday, same hours as my wife so we can carpool, and paid more for the starting wage than my last job did after working there for 2 years and getting a promotion. Win win win. Plus the actual work is more personally fulfilling. Goodbye retail!” – Ghiraheem

“What a huge relief. Good for you.” – LaserTurboShark69

“Because working retail is crap and working retail during a pandemic is just life-draining.” – anarchos1288

“I got out of retail in 19. Couldn’t imagine being in during Covid.” – ogier_79

Low Wages.

“Might do it soon. Wage has not kept up with inflation at all.” – Opie67

“I’m looking forward to my annual 1-2% best we can do right now raise, and giving my notice shortly after. Though I wouldn’t mind being wrong for once.” – tris_majestis

This has been predicted. Year end bonuses will be here and before you know it and January will bring the next wave of walk outs.

Time to switch careers.

“I was so tired of the politics, racism, and anger there. I just finished my second master’s degree and have decided after 20 years I’m switching careers and could not be more excited!!!” – Redditor

“Congratulations! That’s awesome! May your new job bring you a sense of peace and fulfillment.” – Ghiraheem

Left after seven years.

“Got taken off a team I started and was on for 4.5 years and moved to a newly created team with 0 notice. New team is under a different director and also had other people pulled onto it. ‘This team was put together to work on a project that’s very close to the CEO’ we kept getting told.”

“My experience is in a completely different tech stack. No idea why I was moved to this new team. Spent a month doing courses and trainings to learn this new tech stack at the behest of my manager and our lead engineer. Business kept changing their mind on what we were doing, so I had to keep changing what I was learning. (Flutter, Android, iOS, Kotlin, Spring) I was learning all of those from the ground up mostly. Nothing I was experienced in was useful on this new team.”

“Lead engineer submitted his 2 weeks. Was tired of dealing with our management chain.”

“After that, director pulls me into meeting. Says I’m not performing at the expected level. Why don’t I have as many tickets done. etc. I explain that I’ve been doing courses and pair programming with our lead to learn the new code base. That I’m from a completely different tech stack. He doesn’t believe me, says I should be learning outside of work hours. wtf.”

“That’s not how our company culture is at all. Lead engineer hears about this, pulls director into a meeting and yells at him for accusing me of not performing and lays out all the reasons as to why I am. Director pulls me into a meeting the next day to say ‘I guess I didn’t have the full story,’ doesn’t even really apologize. Like bro, I f*cking told you the full story…”

“I had a couple break downs during that whole week, so after that I took 2 weeks of vacation to think about shit and to de-stress. Came back, finished a small project in 2 days and submitted my 2 weeks.”

“And that is how I came to quit a company I had worked at for nearly 7 years that I really enjoyed working at. And how a tool of a director lost a Senior & Staff engineer from his 5 person team in the span of a couple weeks. I hope it reflects poorly on him.” – Shane75776

Your mental health should come first.

“I was in middle management, desperately trying to keep my small team together with no help or support from the higher ups who were content on playing golf and smoking their cigars. My team was overworked, stressed, yelled at constantly by internal and external clients, and were given tools from 1998 to fix 2021 issues.”

“Luckily a former co-worker asked how things were going, I might have an opportunity for you…he’s now my co-worker again, and I’m making 40% more than I was, no longer managing people, and back doing what I like doing: Learning new things and helping people.”

“Two things I learned:”

“Be nice to people because you never know what can happen down the road. They might call on you or you might need to call on them.”

“Mental health first. I had a mental breakdown and my former company said, ‘Are you quitting?’ as their opening statement when I opened up to them. If you’re not getting the support you need, go find it. I promise you, everything else will work out.” – jkra0512

They’re actually wanted as a worker.

“Worked so many hours, took so much on, and then was told I ‘wasn’t engaged’ so I found a job where they are thrilled to have me for 40 grand more a year. I feel like I’ve been de-programmed from a cult. I even have the energy to join a gym.”

“Took a few people to tell me I deserved my success before I started to believe it myself.” – teenabeans

No room for growth.

“I didn’t have any opportunity for personal career development because the business refused to hire another developer for 2 years to help share the load.”

“I was constantly needed to help support legacy systems that were ‘going to be replaced soon’ rather than allowed to work on anything new or things that would’ve helped me to improve.”

“After I gave my 2 weeks, they begged me to stay because they didn’t have anyone left at the company who had looked at the legacy code base within the last 2+ years.” – VonKoob

Hospitality nightmare.

“Constant eight day stretches. Sometimes up to twelve. Often made worse because schedules started on Sunday, but often weren’t posted until Friday, so I never had a chance to plan. Zero oversight from management, zero help or extra training while trying to keep a hotel’s breakfast area running through COVID, BUT others kept getting me in trouble for pointless things. (I was sometimes leaving stuff undone at end of day, and then doing it when I came in, but apparently that’s illegal.)”

“I stayed late often to help out other departments, but was looked at as not wanting to work if I went home an hour early once or twice during my eight day stretches. And then, they hired someone whose sole job was to do MY job, which wound up cutting my hours in half. Couldn’t take it anymore, so I left.” – Balsamwood

Done with CEOs.

“CEOs and journals like the Wall Street Journal keep telling me that it’s because I’m lazy or that unemployment benefits prevent me from going back to work.”

“The one thing that the NEVER mention statistics like the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimates that CEO compensation has grown 1,322% since 1978, while typical worker compensation has risen just 18%. In 2020, CEOs of the top 350 firms in the U.S. made $24.2 million, on average — 351 times more than a typical worker.”

“In 1980, CEOs at large companies made about 40 times what the average worker made. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, was paid $265 million in 2020. F*ck you, Tim Cook. Chad Richison of Paycom made $211.13 million in 2020. F*ck you, Chad Richison. Amir Dan Rubin CEO of 1Life Healthcare – $199.05 million. F*ck you, Amir Dan Rubin. John Legere CEO of T-Mobile – $137.2 million. F*ck you, John Legere.”

“And f*ck you, business journals who put the blame on the workers rather than the CEOs and executive suite.”

“Occasionally, there are actual righteous business owners, like CEO Dan Price. He raised the salary of everyone at his Seattle-based credit card processing company Gravity Payments to at least $70,000 a year. Price slashed his own salary by $1 million down to the same $70,000.”

“All the business journals claimed, at the time, that CEO Dan Price was a communist, and that his business would go down the tubes. These are supposedly the ‘free market’ people who should be on the side of Dan Price to do whatever he decided to do with his own company. Anyways, as it turns out, their business exploded. The workers appreciate him so much, they all chipped in to buy him a new car, because he couldn’t afford one on his new $70,000 salary. Now, that’s a real man.” – AutodidacticTactic

There’s no shortage of reasons to quit a job: low wages, terrible treatment, poor management, and being forced to keep going through a global pandemic are all valid reasons.

If there’s anything we can learn from this is that laborers have a lot of power, and that power is through their choice to work at companies that actually care about their wellbeing.

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People Share The Best Trivial Facts They’ve Picked Up On The Job

Random knowledge is always being thrown at us and there are some things we’d never hear about if not for our jobs.

The workplace can be one of the best places to learn and thrive.

Case in point, I learn everyday from reading threads like this. I gather knowledge about science, geography, humanity, murder—the list is endless.

It can be useful and useless all at once. And that’s fun.

Redditor HugSized wanted to discuss all of the random knowledge many of us pick up in the workplace.

They asked:

“What trivial fact do you know only because of your job?”

Let’s get ready for Jeopardy…

A Special Time of Season

“The reason many TV shows have ‘holiday special’ episodes is because TV viewership is very low the week of Christmas but if they call it a special they don’t need to include it when they calculate their average ratings for the season.”

“Also the day Americans watch the least amount of TV is the 4th of July.”  ~ thisisanewusername57

Inch by inch by inch…

“Tulips will continue to grow, on average, two inches more after they’ve been cut. Generally not while they’re in cold storage, but once they’re in a warmer environment.” 

“Usually the entire flower will get bigger. They will grow in length, but also as the petals open the petals will become larger as well.”

“Taking them out of cold storage will make them continue to grow, and do they!”

“I think it’s the cells becoming larger as they get warmer. Like they expand and contract with temperature and light.”

“A lot of flowers will open in light and close in dark. There is a point of no return.” ~ marefo

“As someone who worked in floral making arrangements for a while, tulips have become my least favorite flower to work with.”

“Those flimsy ass stems that just flop over because they’re so top heavy, and since they tend to grow at different rates, it is hard to use them in arrangements.”

“Plus the soil is always packed into their leaves, leading to dirty water if you happen to miss a spot when cleaning them.”   ~ amugnai

Buying. Selling. For a bit. 

“The average length of a Real Estate Agent’s career is about four months.”  ~ Bunktavious

“I lasted three years. I didn’t have the money to pay the Realtor fee at the time or the car to impress.”

“Then I moved out of town, got divorced, spent a whole year broke before I was back on my feet, with other 9-5 entry level positions.”

“I’ve wanted to get back into it but with such a bad market where I live and the necessity to make money asap, it is a hard decision.”  ~ LLL84

Better to Breathe

“Babies born vaginally tend to have less respiratory distress than babies via c-section of the same gestational age because the squeeze through the birth canal helps get amniotic fluid out of their lungs.”  ~J ohnnytucf

“This saved my nephew.”

“He would have died if delivered cesarean but being born vaginally, the squeeze pushed his intestines back through the hole in his diaphragm and into his abdomen allowing his lungs to expand.”  ~ neinta

“Also the sudden change from chilling in their own pee to suddenly being squeezed, relatively slowly, through a very small space causes a release of stress hormones which also help absorb fluid in the lungs as well as triggering breathing.”

“Babies born through C-section don’t get as much of that stress.”  ~ kjhwkejhkhdsfkjhsdkf

Shopping in Secret

“In the state of Nevada, only licensed private investigators are allowed to work as mystery shoppers.”  ~ cattemonstre

“I had a secret shopper twice in a row.”

“He was making sure we checked IDs. I asked for his ID when he ordered, gave me a green card indicating I passed, I gave that to my manager, started talking to him.”

“Saw him again the next month, said hello and just asked for his ID before he said anything.”

“He just smiled again, gave me another green card and I bought him an appetizer so he could just sit and relax a bit.”  ~ illgot

“Based on my experience, I think mystery shopping companies that operate in Nevada recruit current PIs to do mystery shopping work on the side, rather than encouraging aspiring shoppers to get licensed.”

“The locations being shopped also have somewhat higher security needs (stores and restaurants in casinos, etc.), so that might have something to do with it.”  ~ cattemonstre

For the price of ink…

“You know those vintage looking shirts at the store that are distressed on the print. It saves the company a ton of money on ink costs.”

“My boss says that trend is what made him a millionaire.”  ~ PlopsMcgoo

“Also makes it easier to print/less waste.”

“Didn’t get solid pressure all the way through the push? No problem, it’s distressed. Didn’t flood the screen fully in one spot?”

“It’s ok, distressed. Pretty much any error is easily hidden in a distressed design.”

“When you need crisp, sharp lines is where errors become majorly obvious and any error can mean recording and printing a new shirt.”  ~r edebekadia

Gimme your grade…

“The most common type of stainless steel is grade 304. The second most common is grade 316, which is used for food and surgical purposes.”  ~ mycatiswatchingyou

“Most common because it’s the cheapest grade of stainless steel, 316 has higher quantities of more expensive elements, 321 more so.”

“You can then kick it up a notch and look at Duplex and Super Duplex stainless steels if you have the budget and the need.”  ~ KarmannosaurusRex

Food Prep Areas

“Ground moles have kitchens just like us!”

“They will paralyze earth worms (their primary food source) by biting its head and will drag the worms to a designated burrow where they store the bodies to save for later.”  ~ GraeBabe

I’lll just take two of these…

“So many companies will let you walk in say ‘I’m with the computer company’ and walk out with a computer.” ~ SirPasta117

“I’ve seen this work at a tech company. Had more than a dozen developers hand their laptops over to a random guy with a cart.”

“I’m from IT doing a laptop upgrade, here to collect the old ones”

“From the security footage, one of the devs ran after the guy to stop him… to hand over the charger that goes with the laptop.”

“We only found out when we started getting angry calls a few hours later from developers demanding to know how long the replacement was going to take.”  ~J uan_Golt

Head Held High! Moooo!

“Cows have a tendon running down the back of their necks that holds their head up.”

“It’s called a paddy whack and you can dry it out and give it to dogs like a rawhide bone.”

“That’s the source of Knick knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone.”  ~ ellipses1

Well that is a ton to process. I don’t know if I’ll ever make an episode of Jeopardy! but it’s good to have knowledge tucked away.

It can be fun to just blurt out random facts at a party.

You know when we do, people might be inspired to follow up in research. And then we’re all learning.

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People Describe The Most Elaborate Scam They’ve Ever Fallen For

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Many victims of scams fail to detect if what someone is pitching is legit. These con artists have the capability of hypnotizing people by talking endlessly about the products they’re selling, or worse, threatening you with legal action if you don’t pay off charges you never knew you had.

During the pandemic, it seems internet scams have increased to prey on the elderly or even the most unsuspecting customer who isn’t even close to retirement age.

But don’t feel bad if you fell victim to an elaborate scam that made you the proud owner of the proverbial snake oil. You’re not alone.

Curious to hear from others whose gullibleness was taken advantage of, Redditor Pissgf asked:

“What’s the most elaborate scam you fell for?”

The Stolen Car

“I put a room up for rent once. Someone applied and said they would be moving in at the first of the month. They said they were military and switching bases.”

“This person said they were going to go ahead and ship their car out and fly in. The car arrived and was offloaded by truck. A few days later the car was gone. The person never arrived.”

“A month or so later the police knocked and asked about the car. Ended up being that the car was stolen by whoever this person was that shipped it and the person who picked it up was a buyer who thought it was legit.”

“Apparently he had a set of keys mailed to him and a fake title. Idk if it ever got sorted but they initially assumed that I was a part of it.” – BLACKMACH1NE

Free HBO

“At the start of college one year when everyone was moving into houses in the usual sh**ty but affordable part of a college town, a guy walked up to us and said he can get us free HBO, he’d just take $20, he knew a guy.”

“We’re like cool, he takes out his cell phone, walks a few steps away out of earshot, says check our TV, we go, and lo and behold, HBO! We give him $20 and he walks away.”

“A week later, it was gone. The dude just called HBO for some free trial week. He must have hit up every college kid moving in that day and made bank.” – StoolToad9

What’s Left On The Gift Card

“I had a visa gift card for $100 I got for my birthday, and wanted to check the balance after a few purchases online.”

“I look up ‘check visa gift card balance’ and clicked on the first thing I saw.” – throwaway74274380

An Elaborate Con

“This will probably get buried, but it’s one of the best scams (felonies?) I’ve ever heard.”

“Someone in my super small town got their grill stolen off their front porch one day. Obviously they were like, what in the hell? And they’re bummed.”

“A couple of days later, the grill shows back up on their front porch with an attached note that reads something along the lines of.”

“Our son has a problem with stealing things which do not belong to him. We found this on our property and got it out of him who he took it from and made sure he brought it back to you. Please don’t call the police to report this and enjoy 4 tickets to the Cleveland Indians game on us. So sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Needless to say, the people who lived there were relieved to have their grill back and went to the game that Saturday to enjoy the tickets some nice parents (presumably) had left for them to make up for their shitty son’s actions.”

“Except.”

“Our town was about 2 hours from Cleveland. Between the drive there and back and the baseball game, I’d say the family was gone for about 10+ hours that day. Guaranteed.”

“When they returned home, they’re house had been BURGLED. Everything. Electronics, cash, jewelry, ANYTHING you could think of as potentially valuable was gone.”

“Someone concocted a hell of an elaborate ruse they knew would get those people out of their house for a good half a day in order to rob the ever-loving sh*t out of them. All for the cost of a couple of Indians tickets.”

“It’s a funny story to tell, but no doubt was incredibly scary and invasive at the time to that poor family.” – kelseamoore

The Meetup

“Ohhh boy, I still cringe about that. Back in the late 90s, early 00s when chatrooms were popular, I met this guy there and we ended up chatting pretty much daily. He had an unusual name for the region, that should have been the first clue.”

“We chatted and sent letters to each other (by actual post)..tried to meet up with him so many times, but he always had something come up. One night on new year’s eve when we were supposed to meet finally, HIS COUSIN shows up and said yea he’ll come soon, he told me to wait here with you.”

“Pretended to call him several times to ask where he was, an hour or so later I just went back home and never talked to the guy again. Turned out the ‘cousin’ was the guy I was chatting with and he had made a deal with another guy to see how long I would believe all this.”

“I can’t believe I fell for it. Keep in mind I was 16 something back then.” – Finewhatever1

Getting An ESTA Visa

“I don’t know if its necessarily the most elaborate scam of all time, but there are a range of fake sites online that offer ESTA visa for entry into the US.”

“The funny thing about the sites is that they actually process your visa, but they just do it by sending your details to the official site and charging you a hundred dollars or so of idiot tax.”

“I got caught a few years back and I wasn’t even really mad. It was such an amazingly set-up grift, and what made it even better was that you really had no recourse because they were actually giving you what you paid for.” – dougieburrows

The “Color” TV

“In the late 50s or early 60s, some guy came into my grandpas shop selling color TVs out of the back of a truck. The family had never had a color tv, and the price was way less than what a store charged, so he bought one.”

“He excitedly brought it home, plugged it in and turned it on. Black and White. He played with the knobs and antenna, nothing. No color. The guy took a bunch of old black and white TVs, slapped a rainbow sticker on them, and sold them as color. Brilliant.” – Jealous-Network-8852

Owing Taxes

“A phone call just as I graduated high school I nearly fell for it. I was maybe 17-18 years old still looking for a job. The call goes as this:”

“HI, my name is John doe, and I am with the FBI. We have a warrant out for your arrest.”

“I’m terrified because it sounded real, so I kept listening.”

“It seems you owe $259.27 in taxes, you may call the IRS, or you may mail it to somewhere to sort the issue.”

“My heart was racing because I though I was wanted for tax evasion before my first job. I asked my dad what I should do and he told me to call the local sheriff’s department so I did. I was relieved to hear that I didn’t have a warrant and that it was a scam.” – somebigdog

I “bumped” into a guy with my umbrella once, when I was walking in Times Square in the show.

Apparently, I knocked him so hard, his glasses fell onto the SNOW-COVERED pavement and cracked.

He demanded I pay him $200 for a new pair and insisted we go to an ATM to settle the damage. I knew his specs were already cracked.

So when I played along and asked him for his name, address, and phone number so I could mail him a check, he yelled, “that will take too long!” and stormed off.

I guess he didn’t need the new glasses that badly. After all, there were other prospective victims to scope out in Times Square.

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People Share Their Best Medical Tips That Everyone Should Know

Medical science has come a long way in the last few decades—to say nothing of the last century.

The rapid innovations and near-constant shifts in the field have left some struggling to catch up.

So Redditor  ATOM-Tomzej decided to get some quick tips and facts about medicine in our modern age.

Of course, just as with anything else medical, please refer to your doctor and not an entertaining Reddit list for advice.

He asked:

“What’s a medical fact or tip everyone should know?”

Do not attempt!

“Please, don’t give an unconscious diabetic insulin.”

“You’re probably going to kill them if you do.”~733094

Also,

“When I complained about physical problems my parents often dismissed it.”

“Don’t ignore physical pain of yourself or others and listen if someone complains about pain.”

“I’ve walked around with a broken bone in my foot for multiple weeks as a child before getting medical attention and later had bells palsy and didn’t say a thing.”~Koroit_

Remember to really push.

“ER/ trauma nurse here.”

“When performing CPR, the compressions are substantially more important than the rescue breaths.”

“If you aren’t comfortable and properly trained in CPR, stick to compressions only.”

“And, you should go ~2 inches deep into their chest with each push.”

“You will be TIRED if you do it right.”~theperipateticnurse

Spotify to the rescue!

“The New York Presbyterian Hospital has a playlist on Spotify called ‘Songs to do CPR to’, which all have that kind of rhythm – it’s well worth a look, and a lot are very catchy!”~cortexaire

Some came with a list.

“First aid”

“Someone’s having a seizure – don’t restrain them, or put anything in their mouth, just move any objects away from them, and place some padding under their head.”

“Once the seizure stops if they’re still not fully responsive, then put them on their side into the recovery position.”

“Someone swallowed chemicals/poison – don’t encourage them to be sick.”

“This can make things far worse as you cause additional burns on the way back up, or they start choking on it.”

“Call an ambulance, try to identify the chemical/poison, and follow any instructions they give.”

“Injured people who can’t move themselves should be left where they are unless there’s an immediate threat to their safety.”

“Motorcyclists helmets – if they’ve been in an accident then as long as they can maintain an open airway and breathe leave the helmet on.”

“Only remove it if it’s causing airway or breathing difficulties.”

“Nosebleeds – you tilt the head forward now, not backwards.”

“This advice changed many years ago but the amount of people I still see saying to tilt head back is frustrating.”~GrumpyOldDan

And,

“Top four:”

“Vaccinations”

“Vaccinations again, because it’s that f*cking important”

“Not shitting in your drinking water”

“Washing your hands”~kjata

Learn the signs.

“Signs of a heart attack in women are not your typical ‘tight chest, arm pain’ symptoms as in men.”

“Women typically experience stomach upsets and cramping first.”

“Likewise, many people experiencing heart attack symptoms do not seek emergency treatment because they are in denial.”~Jay1313

Drink Wisely.

“On an alcohol note, alternate your booze and water. A hangover is your brain being dehydrated.”~I_SH*T_A_BRICK

See the answer clearly.

“If you are drinking enough water, and are still getting massive headaches, get your eyes tested.”

“There’s a good chance you can’t see right and it’s strain headaches.”

“This is how I found out I needed glasses.”~Smecomposers

Always communicate.

“Don’t be afraid to speak up.”

“Learned early on in my Husbands treatment that the Dr.s etc. had what I started calling ‘the go to drugs’ (and I’m not speaking of the chemotherapy ones).”

“Long story short…we had the majority of his drugs changed to benefit HIS goals…he was lucid enough to spend quality time with his family before he passed.”

“Priceless.”

“Don’t be afraid to monitor, question etc.“~f*kcancr

Tests that you can’t study for are still important to take

“Pap tests and prostate exams are harmless and very important.”

“They can save your fertility, can save you from a lot of pain, they can even save your life.”

“And they are so simple and easy.”

“Yes, there is some discomfort.”

“But something tells me cancer causes much more discomfort.”~Lactiz

Always follow the prescription!

“If you’re taking antidepressants, or you know someone who is, and you feel better, IT IS NOT A REASON TO STOP TAKING THEM.”

“You are feeling better because of them.”

“They are not bandaids, they are long haul drugs that really rejig your brain’s chemistry.”~Releaseform

Baking soda fixes everything.

“Mix water and baking soda (small amounts of each/till soupy) and put it on any kind of sting.”

“It soothes and removes some of the poison if there is any.”

“Not sure if everyone already knows this but I have not seen any of my friends do it when they got stung.”

“Your welcome people of Reddit.”~ImThe_RealDirtyDan

There are no shortcuts.

“Calling 911 and going by ambulance is not a fast pass to the front of the line!”

“Only call in a real emergency not for a stubbed toe at 3 in the g*d d*mn morning!”

“Hospitals will still send you to triage and you’re left with a wait to get in and a super expensive bill for a ride that could have cost you a thousand times less by taking Uber.”~jesus-christ-of-ems

There are better ways to lose weight.

“Don’t buy popular diet teas that guarantee weight loss.”

“It’s just a laxative and you’ll spend less money if you just get a laxative from the store.”

“Also don’t use laxatives for weight loss.”

“It can cause bad nausea, and massive stomach cramps that leave you curled up on your bathroom floor and wondering what end sh*t is gonna come out.”

“Only use laxatives as directed.”~volcanic-sass

Medical science has come a long way.

While there are plenty of nuggets of truth in this list, always remember to consult your own doctor for your own medical questions.

But without a doubt, laughter is the best medicine.

Maybe.

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People Share The Most Frightening Facts About The Big Blue Ocean

Most of us have visited a beach next to the ocean at least once in our lives, and it’s fun to spend time there with friends, soaking up the sun, and splashing around in the water.

But also as the AskReddit pointed out, it’s unsettling to think about what else is out there beneath the waves.

Redditor matspud asked: 

“What’s the scariest thing you know about the ocean?”

Some were in awe of the sheer size of the ocean.

“How big it is in all directions. Most people ‘know’ this at least at a factual level, but haven’t really thought of how scary that must be if you ever find yourself in the middle of the ocean deep beneath the surface.” – vivianmay02

“Just how much water there is. If you punched a swimming-pool sized hole in the bottom of the Marianas Trench so that ocean water would drain through it, it would take hundreds of thousands of years to deplete the oceans.” – AdvocateSaint

“Everything about the Marianas Trench scares the s**t out of me. The fact that it’s 36000 feet deep (as far as we know), and that light doesn’t penetrate water past 3200 feet is mindblowing to me.”

“For reference, Mount Everest is 29000 feet tall, which means you could fit Everest into the trench (in terms of height, not necessarily mass) and light wouldn’t even hit it, it would be entirely submerged in darkness.”

“The thought of thousands of feet of cold, dark water is an absolute nightmare in my opinion.” – TheBlueHerron1

“There’s a spot in the ocean called Point Nemo, where on average the closest humans to you are the astronauts on the International Space Station.” – BaffledDonuts420

Others agreed and thought of what hasn’t been explored.

“The majority of the world’s oceans have NOT been explored, and deep-sea creatures of all types have never been discovered.”

“H**l, we don’t even know what whales do most of the time. It’s another world underwater and we know almost nothing about it.” – AAOG666

“That literally anything based on deep-sea monsters could be real in a sense.” – SteveManson4554

“The bottom of the ocean is less searched than the surface of the MOON.” – Shy-Guys-Toast

Some introduced terrifying and deadly sea creatures.

“Right off the coast of Baja, Humbolt squid that are about 4 to 6 feet long, have sharp serrated teeth in every sucker on their arms can take you from the surface and drag you to depths of 900 feet.”

“You would just disappear from the surface and no one would ever hear nor see you again and you’d be mercilessly eaten by their beaks tearing grapefruit sized chunks out of you.” – yoncenator

“Sea spiders exist and they can get to over 2 meters in length.” – Fearless-1265

“There’s this thing called the Pelican Eel which lives deep down. It’s the actual s**t of nightmares.” – Imanol0206

“There’s this f**king 10-foot worm that lives under the ocean floor, except its head, which is level with the ocean floor. It’s got feelers and pincers so if a fish swims over it, it grabs on with the pincers and drags the fish under to eat it.” – mrusmca

A few pointed out how close by some creatures actually are.

“If you frequent the ocean enough you’re bound to swim a few feet from a shark.” – Dannydevitz

“My teacher regularly visits Africa as he owns a safari resort there (real neat guy) and told me how once while swimming, he saw a huge a** tiger shark swim overhead. It was only about 3 feet above him, scary s**t.” – RogueDoodler

“There are blue holes in the Bahamas which are all connected by miles of underwater caverns. Only 8% of it has been explored by humans.”

“The blue holes serve as fun little swimming holes and the water is clear and you can see to the bottom (at least on some I’ve read).”

“Sometimes people just disappear from them while swimming with friends. Like, there are reports of people turning around, then back around and their buddy is gone.”

“There are rumors of tentacles pulling people under.”

“Fun fact: octopi don’t stop growing.”

“Another fun fact: they can fit anywhere their jaw/ beak can fit.”

“Another fun fact: they are bottom dwellers.”

“Not saying Lusca is real… But you’ll never catch me in a blue hole.” – Key_Refridgerator7725

Two were concerned about what’s happening to the ocean.

“I’m afraid its eventual acidification may render it uninhabitable.” – Trepang

“People can’t even wrap their heads around coral bleaching or algal blooms much less the severity of snails and such not being able to sublimate calcium into shells anymore.” – Emotionally_dead

Some urged others to be respectful of nature.

“It’s where the food chain starts. Mankind is full speed ahead, d**n the torpedoes doing our best to completely destroy it with absolutely no regard for anything, even ourselves.”

“Ultimately, we’ll get what we deserve for the arrogant and callous way we’ve treated this planet.” – IfIKnewThen

“As a scuba diver, the most important thing to know is that the ocean doesn’t care about you. It might not be actively out to get you, but it’s also not going to help you.”

“You aren’t really meant to be there and it’s of no consequence what happens to you. Nothing there is conducive to you staying alive.”

“It’s an uneasy truce that you’re the only real party to. So it follows that all the warnings about paying attention, knowing your equipment, and remembering your training are in fact not bulls**t.”

“You’re a visitor, so treat it and yourself with respect. The ocean will continue what it’s been doing for eons whether you’re there or not. You don’t have that luxury.” – bg-j38

Some of these facts, especially the stranger creatures that have been discovered in deeper parts of the ocean, are particularly unsettling, especially when we mostly think about sparkling water and bright, sunny beaches.

While this may not stop all of us from going into the ocean ever again, perhaps it will give us the pause we need to appreciate the vastness of nature and the respect we should have for it.