Month: December 2021

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People Explain Which Facts May Sound Fake But Are Absolutely True

A lot of us enjoy discovering unusual and wild facts, but honestly, sometimes the facts we discover are so out there, we struggle to believe they are true.

Some of us even become angry when we discover something is true, because it’s so hard to believe!

Redditor ejaybugboy asked: 

“What’s a terrifying fact that keeps you up at night?”

Some enjoyed thinking about the days of the week.

“Here is the etymology of the days of the week in English:”

“Sun’s Day”

“Moon’s Day”

“Tir (Tew)’s day”

“Odin (Wodin)’s day”

“Thor’s Day”

“Freya’s Day”

“Saturn’s Day”

“Two celestial bodies, four Norse gods, and suddenly one asshole from the Roman pantheon for no godd**ned reason. What the f**k is Saturn doing there?” – IronOhki

“I like how they’re called in Serbian:”

“• Utorak (Tuesday) – Taken from old Slavic and means ‘second.’”

“• Sreda (Wednesday) – Means ‘middle.’”

“• Četvrtak (Thursday) – Means ‘fourth.’”

“• Petak (Friday) – Means ‘fifth.’”

“• Subota (Saturday) – Derived from the word ‘sabbath.’”

“• Nedelja (Sunday) – Means ‘not to work,’ or ‘the day when you don’t work.’”

“• Ponedeljak (Monday) – Literally means ‘after Nedelja,’ or ‘the day after the day when you don’t work,’ because laziness is on a whole other level here apparently.’” – TheCosmicSound

Others were more interested in wild animal facts.

“There are more privately owned tigers in Texas than there are wild tigers on the rest of the planet combined.” – j_flameIV

“Crocodiles can climb trees.” – MoravianPrince

“A flock of crows is called a murder. But a flock of ravens is called an unkindness or a conspiracy. Who even comes up with this s**t?” – thweet_jethuth

“Pretty much anything to do with naked mole rats. They are neither related to moles nor rats, they can use their teeth like chopsticks, they have the social hierarchy of bees, and oh yeah, THEY ARE COLD-BLOODED.” – JustAProxyForLurking

“In the cat family, cats can either roar or purr, but can’t do both. It’s to do with the structure of the throat.”

“Cheetahs can’t roar, but I hope you find some solace in the thought of them purring happily.”

“Incidentally, cheetahs are different from other big cats in another way too – they can’t retract their claws completely.” – Lenaandcats

Some were concerned about animal breeding for profit.

“English Bulldogs can’t mate naturally. The males are literally physically incapable of mounting the females, so they either have to be helped to do so, or the females are artificially inseminated.”

“The puppies are always delivered via cesarean section since their skulls would not fit through the birth canal. They will then live their entire lives with compromised breathing.”

“But you know, they’re so cute! With their little squished in faces and their adorable snorting!”

“Sorry… I get angry when it comes to purposefully breeding broken animals.” – kabjl

“Persian cats often have breathing problems and blocked tear ducts.”

“Breed two polydactyl (double pawed) cats together and you get kittens with eyes set very far apart and crooked front legs.”

“Intentionally breeding animals to create features people consider cute or fascinating at the expense of the animal’s health should be treated as animal cruelty.” – useatyourownrisk

There were crazy food facts, too.

“Bananas are berries but strawberries are not berries.” – NikiF**kingLauda

“Raspberries, blackberries, and boysenberries are also not berries.”

“Wanna know what else is a berry? A watermelon.” – Grayseff

Some had a lot of fun talking about words.

“Cannoli is already in plural form. The singular form is Cannolo.” – JimDumb22

“Coolth is an actual word and it’s the opposite of warmth. I love using it but my girlfriend fucking hates it.” – mackenzicles

“The terms ‘hardwood’ and ‘softwood’ have nothing to do with the actual hardness of the wood, but what kind of seeds the tree produces.” – Penguin_Out_Of_A_Zoo

“Inflammable and flammable mean the same thing. ‘Flammable’ is not considered a scientifically acceptable term for things-that-catch-fire-easily. ‘Inflammable’ is the proper term and comes from the word inflame.”

“But flammable caught on because inflammable sounds too much like resistant-to-being-caught-on-fire, which is potentially quite a dangerous misunderstanding.” – Guinefort1

“The word ‘Helicopter’ is not made up of the words ‘Heli’ and ‘Copter,’ but rather ‘Helico’ and ‘Pter,’ which are Greek for ‘Spiral’ and ‘Wing.’” – Zaptagious

“That ‘unlockable’ means both: Able to be unlocked AND Unable to be locked.”

“My 11-year-old pointed this out, and I had nothing for her other than a blank stare and then thinking, ‘Well, s**t. Good job.’” – jenfers

Some were interested in grammatically-correct sentences.

“The fact that this sentence is grammatically correct: ‘All the faith he had had had had no effect.’” – WoodyPoleSmoker

“Get ready:” 

“‘James, where John had had ‘had,’ had had ‘had had;’ ‘had had’ had had a better effect on the teacher.’ is correct.” – halatian6

Two Redditors knew a fun fact about potato chips.

“All crisps (chips for any Americans) in the UK go out of date on a Saturday. It annoys me because a smug friend pointed it out and i have been unsuccessful in proving him wrong.” – Rossco1874

“I had to Google this and found this from Walkers…”

“In the manufacturing sites, we work on production weeks which start on a Sunday. All product produced in that week will have the same Best Before date. As the week ends on Saturday, the Best Before date will always end on a Saturday.” – IsItMeYourLooking49

One Redditor described what would happen if sawdust was mixed with water.

“If you mix water and sawdust and freeze it, the resulting ‘ice’ melts extremely slowly. like, ‘weeks at room temperature’ slowly.” – btaylos

Some were entertained by unbelievable science facts.

“The fact that in an electric circuit, even though the electric current is electrons moving from negative pole to positive pole, the definition of a current flow is that it moves from positive to negative.”

“And similar misses in definitions in physics/science that was just decided to stay because changing definitions would be confusing at first.” – Versalis_A

Though some of the Redditors struggled to believe these facts were true, there was no arguing these facts were fascinating.

It’s an amazing reminder there is something new and fun to learn lurking around every corner.

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People Imagine Which Species Would Rule Earth If Humans Didn’t Exist

Humankind has walked the world for just about 6 million years.

In the 4 Billion year lifespan of the planet, that’s practically a newborn.

Of course, we’ve been busy.  We built cities and highways and slowly became the dominant lifeform on this little blue world.

Using our opposable thumbs and massive brains we cultivated the land and conquered the oceans.

We spread through the whole world until our species could be found on every continent.

Humans lucked out in the evolutionary war.

We had the right biology, the right temperament, the necessary mix of ingenuity and tenacity required to claw our way to the top of the food chain and stay there.

However, what if things had gone a wee bit differently?

Redditor Mompkey wondered this very thing on Reddit when he asked: 

“Which species do you think would be dominant if humans didn’t exist?”

I would welcome our lupine overlords.

“Wolves. They can, and have, successfully adapted to most of the various biomes on the planet. There’s a reason we domesticated them and took them everywhere with us.” ~ CedarWolf

Some guesses stayed very close to genetic family tree.

“The ‘Pongo’ lineage (orangutans and related species) radiated throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia, before humans (or any other homo or pan species).”

“Many of them were ground dwelling (such as Sivapithecus, in India, for example).”

“If it weren’t for humans (a speciation of chimpanzees; the pan genus), the Pongo genus (specifically a species similar to or such as Sivapithicus; many fossils have been lost and there were definitely more species than we know about).”

“And its various species, would have been the dominant genus, based on the following reasoning:”

“What makes human beings the dominant species is – “

“(1) the combination of opposable thumbs and upright posture, and,”

“(2) sophisticated communication, including oral, and written language.”

“Many other species have oral language, and those languages have not been studied.”

“However, no other species have written language.”

“Written language allows complex ideas (sophisticated technology) to be passed down multiple generations later, so even if nobody that person directly interacted within their lifetime was able to duplicate what that person did,”

“(Say build a chariot, create gunpowder, etc.) someone multiple generations later could read a book and figure it out if they had the desire to.”

“Besides Pongo and Pan, there are various other species of monkeys who could have eventually reached the niche human beings ended up filling.”

“Most of the other primate species are tree-dwelling to such an extreme extent that they’d be unlikely to be very ‘dominant’.”

“Other than possibly other monkeys or apes, that title would end up going to some dog, cat or bear species (tigers, grizzlies, wolves, for example, not including many megafauna which went extinct when humans came into contact with them).”

“An argument could also be made that diseases are more dominant than humans.” ~ Longjumping_Emu_1297

Or,

“Wouldn’t it be just another off shoot of humans like the Neanderthal or heidelbergensis?” ~ SnooHesitations8174

In some instances, size does matter. 

“Elephants.”

“Nobody f*cks with elephants” ~ amarghir1234

But not always.

“Probably ants tbh.”

“They just seem like they already took over the world in masses and are everywhere.” ~ItsLenTastic

“Free Willy” would have been a very different movie.

“Orcas.”

“Definitely f*cking orcas.”

“Not only are they smart, they also are apex predators who f*ck up even the strongest of sharks.”

“They have been known to yeet seals 80 feet out of the water.”

“My bets are on the murder oreo.” ~ BigCut5442

Of course, not everyone seemed on board with the assignment.

“Humans are the only species that seek to dominate others.”

“Other animals just want to live in the balance of nature. They’re just trying to survive, they don’t have time to take over the world.” ~ Nisa4444

Others gave multiple guesses.

“1. None.”

“Intelligence is not a goal of evolution.”

“Survival in nature is achieved mostly by being faster, bigger, gathering in numbers, having more offspring, bigger claws, etc.”

“More, not better.”

“Intelligence is only useful for physically weak, highly sociable opportunistic omnivores that are in the middle of the food chain, needing to hunt and avoid being hunted at the same time.”

“Like our ancestors.”

“Human intelligence is a product of the extremely competitive and dangerous environment in which the hominins evolved.”

“They had to outsmart their competitors and prey, take every little chance they had at survival and then some, be tough af.”

“It also helped having appropriate appendages for creating tools, a carnivore diet to feed a bigger brain, etc.”

“It was basically a perfect storm that created humans.”

“2. Another ape. For the same reasons as above.”

“3. Raccoons. They are sociable, opportunistic omnivores, have tiny hands. That would be cute.” ~holeontheground

Flight would be a great advantage.

“Corvids particularly Crows.” ~Outrageous-Monk-6281

This is solid logic.

“Chickens.”

“They just look like they know sh*t.” ~ Morfa_

Whoever has the most teeth, wins.

“Sharks, they are the dominant species on 3/4 of the earth’s surface already, they have survived mass extinctions and would thrive even more without humans mucking up their habitat.” ~ Who_Wouldnt_

Clearly, there were other contenders to the throne.

The dinos could’ve had their shot had they not been taken out early.

Size doesn’t always mean a winning score on the evolutionary battlefield though—after all we’re hardly the biggest animals.

There were lots of suggestions from the mammal kindgom but insects, birds, reptiles and fish had a few strong contenders as well.

What do you think?

Had our luck been a little worse, or our timing a little off, might we have been usurped by bats?

By shrews?

Perhaps it wouldn’t even be an animal that evolved to dominate the world but a plant?

These sort of theoretical puzzles aren’t just for fun, they can open us up to possibilities that we never would’ve considered before.

“What if we hadn’t been the dominant life on Earth” could just as easily be “What if we explored the world” or “What if we could harness electricity.” The answers to those questions had a major impact on our species.

That’s the real power of our species, after all, the ability to think outside our experience and dream of more.

The infinite possibility of “What if.”

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Workers Get Poetic About Their Profession Using Only Haiku

We spend much of our time at work each day so it makes sense that people develop a sense of humor about it all. We also spend a considerable amount of time talking about what we do for our living, too.

Think about it. When was the last time you were hanging out with new people and to break the ice, they asked you, “What do you do for a living?”

It happens a lot, right?

But suppose you’re bored of launching into the same song-and-dance, the same boring explanation each time? After all, the answers you give have been committed to memory by now, haven’t they?

Imagine if someone asked you to describe what you do in the form of a poem. Things would get much more interesting then!

That was the principle of the matter here thanks to Redditor Lost_Borealin asked the online community:

“Writing only in haiku, what do you do for work?”

IT professionals definitely understand the struggle written about here:

“How can I help you?”

“Oh my god, it is blinking.”

“Try restarting it.” ~ TrafficGreat

And here’s another from someone in the same profession:

“You broke your laptop.”

“Somehow this is my problem?”

“Yelling won’t fix it.” ~ zerinsackeh1

Law school students definitely have heavy workloads, but this person is almost in the clear, hooray!

“I am in law school.”

“I do research for money.”

“Graduating soon.” ~ -MoodIndigo-

And here’s a peek into the future:

“I used to do that.”

“Now I write briefs all damn day.”

“But it pays the bills.” ~ OneFingerIn

X-ray technicians are undoubtedly busy these days!

“I see black and white.”

“Gray all over in between.”

“When X-rays hit you.” ~ -CrowWill-

Here we have a submission from someone representing Chipotle!

“Black or pinto beans?”

“You know guac is extra right?”

“Any sides with that?” ~ Noosents

And while not a job, here’s a submission from a satisfied customer:

“Whaddup cake day bro.

” “I ate Chipotle tonight.”

“It was damn good, thanks.” ~ TheMulattoMaker

Here’s a submission from someone who is not working currently—and we’re sorry to hear has been sick for some time:

“Work was years ago.”

“Unfortunately got sick.”

“On Reddit all day…” ~ GeniusEE

Here’s another person who’s unemployed—and we appreciate them being such a good sport:

“I am unemployed.”

“Guess I sit around a lot.”

“God I need a job.” ~ theEluminator

And now for a few submissions from the service industry.

Like this one:

“Put away returns.”

“Are you ready to check out?”

“Refrigerator.” ~ azemetrx

And another—this one from a store manager:

“May I speak with the-”

“Manager? That’s me, Karen.”

“Screaming then ensues.” ~ TitanCatTC

One from someone outlining the bane of every service worker’s existence:

“Is this a dollar?”

“Have you changed your prices yet?”

“Hey, do you work here?” ~ Euclybx

Another, this one from someone who has a knack for rhyming:

“Arranging produce.”

“So that customers buy it.”

“Just to deep fry it.” ~ MackeralSky

Another, this one from someone who does the same thing:

“At a grocery store.”

“I put out all the produce.”

“Throw out all the bad.” ~ ggfchi

And one more, this one from a restaurant worker:

“Service industry.”

“But I cannot stand people.”

“So I bus tables.” ~ skinnybastard

Here’s someone doing some very important work that I’m sure many people are grateful for after the hellish last year-and-a-half that we’ve had:

“Vaccine researchers.”

“Rely on me to fill studies.”

“With lots of people.” ~ bellyflop2

Hey, remember what being a college student was like?

Don’t remember?

Well, here’s a reminder:

“Nothing but schoolwork.”

“Occasionally homework.”

“Ugh anyday now.” ~ Pagalingling40

Here’s someone who’s in school and decided to be clever… we see what they did there.

“What is a haiku?

“I’m in school so I don’t know.”

“So is this a haiku?” ~FewJackfruit1432

Here’s a teacher telling us how it is.

“I help shape young minds.”

“I put up with their parents.”

“I’m not paid enough.” ~ edgarpicke

This person perfectly summed up what it’s like to work remotely—so we’re guessing their life didn’t change much when the pandemic hit:

“It’s much like before.”

“I still help people.”

“But now I’m in my PJs.” ~ slice_of_pi

This person probably has some pretty interesting stories about the people who come into their shop:

“I need some money.”

“What is your collateral?”

“Maybe this TV?” ~ Winquisitor

We’re taking an educated guess here and guessing that this person does something with… wait for it… products:

“Writing about products.”

“Creating ads for products.”

“Posting about products.” ~ snowstormspawn

Oooh… we’ve got someone special over here.

Anyone have any educated guesses of their own?

We’re thinking something with a high security clearance.

“It is very rare.”

“Can’t be too specific.”

“Don’t want to dox myself.” ~ Hlodvigovich915

Okay, you know how hard scientists have worked over the last year to get us to understand the importance of taking the COVID-19 vaccine?

Here’s a submission from an epidemiologist who just had to express their frustration:

“Poxed populations.”

“Epidemiology.”

“Revered, then ignored.” ~ annoyedgrunt

Next one is a lawyer?

Someone in publishing?

Either way, they’re keeping you out of legal trouble:

“You can’t publish that.”

“It is copyrighted art.”

“Get permission now.” ~ Frysiel

Here’s a submission from someone who works with disabled individuals in their capacity at the Social Security Administration:

“Disabled people.”

“They want to go to work soon.”

“SSA questions.” ~ trashytamboriney

And here’s another submission, this one from someone who doesn’t sound too happy with that same government agency:

“Disabled people.”

“Waiting on phone forever.”

“Then disconnected.” ~ Batfink27

Here’s one from someone who’s definitely sick and tired of working in software development:

“So sick of fixing bugs.”

“So sick of feeling dumb every day.”

“Lots of money, but crushing.” ~ bctwoPoint0

I know what you’re thinking.

You’re thinking, “Hey, Mr. Writer! Give us a haiku of your own! What’s it like being a full time writer?”

Well, sorry to disappoint you all, but writing haikus isn’t my strong suit.

If you must know what being a writer is like, then I just want you to imagine sitting in front of your screen all day, largely in solitude.

But here’s one last one from an editor:

“Your mistakes are mine,”

“words to correct and refine.”

“Your errors—my job.” ~ LakotaGrl

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People Divulge Which Questions No One Should Ever Ask On A First Date

When on a first date…. keep it light.

I mean, you do want to know if you’re compatible and all of that, but don’t get crazy.

Life is not being decided over your first plate of calamari.

Maybe find out someone’s favorite color before we get into baby names.

Wondering for their own reasons, Redditor koyanggi6563 wanted to discuss what chatter is and is not best for the beginning of romance.

They asked:

“What’s something that should never be asked on a first date?”

What are your thoughts?

That is Private

“Ask me about my job… we’re fine. Specific questions about my salary or savings… I nope out.”  ~ ghost882

“I do think talking about if a savings account has a balance and if you have an emergency fund is important, but specific numbers are too much.”  ~ Global_Criticism_911

The Body Count Percentage

“On a first date, my date asked me what percent of women I had sex with on first dates.”  ~ nyle2

“I beg your pardon kind sir, if I may, could you possibly bestow upon me some rather interesting knowledge in regards to how many souls you make romance to, upon your first date?”

“Much obliged, kind sir, my everlasting gratitude is upon you in infinite magnitudes for your most generous understanding.” ~ -Z-3-R-0-

Are the accounts full? 

“How much money I have.”

“Before I was married, I went on a date with a woman who asked me on the first date, how financially comfortable I was.”

“We had known each other for a few weeks (mutual friend). I think she asked because she deducted that I lived alone in a house I owned, at age 25, and it probably appeared that I didn’t work (was self employed).”

“As soon as she asked, it was obvious why she pushed us to try dating because. She saw money.”

“She ended up marrying for money, but not mine. It’s obvious there’s a prenup, because she’s miserable, and not leaving him.”  ~ FinestTreesInDa7Seas

When in a Diner…

“I had a girl once talk about how her period was so bad this month it caused her chest to break out in hives.”

“She then wanted to show me… in a diner… full of families and shit. I did not ask.”  ~ bybeardandthrone

Deep Breaths…

“Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?”  ~ Tzardine

“Insufficient.”

“Chloroform takes 15 – 20 minutes of steady deep breathing in to successfully knock someone completely out and that’s if you are strong enough to keep steady pressure over their mouth and nose while being able to hold them still in your arms to limit their movements.”

“So a quick sniff won’t do anything but have them tell you yes it does or I don’t know what chloroform smells like so no?”  ~ The_Book-JDP

History Out

“I had a first date ask me my favorite genocide, and then went on to talk about various historical genocides for the rest of the date. I was really creeped out.”  ~ gallopingwalloper

Astrology Issues

“What is your zodiac sign?”  ~ SquareUnderwear69

“Please ask me this on put first date. Then I know you’re a superstitious person who determines their life via ‘magic,’ and I won’t bother with a second date.”  ~ AtheneSchmidt

Matters of the Heart

“So, how many men’s hearts have you broken before?”

“I don’t know if this is a common thing to ask but I got asked this by 2-3 people and I found it a very weird thing to ask.”

“And to clarify the question wasn’t phrased like they were asking about my past relationships, instead it seemed like they were asking how many I turned down.”

“I found it very weird, who remembers that like it’s a conquest or something?”  ~ firefly158

All the Shots!!

“I know what you’re thinking. ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’”

“Well to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I kind of lost track myself.”

“But being that this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well do ya, punk?’” ~ JunkieM0nkey

All in the Family

“How many kids do you want?”  ~ 1nqv

“Maybe not so good for the first date but definitely something to talk about quite early in the relationship.”

“Asking ‘do you like kids?’ or something like that can totally do in the first date depending on the timing, context and both of your personalities.”

“Way too many people leave this type of question for very late in the relationship only to break up because one wants kids and the other hates them.”  ~ Digitijs

Who takes the check?

“To have one of the dates pay for both meals.”  ~ Homerlikesdonuts

“Disagree with that for the first date. It’s totally fine to do afterwards, but I think whoever asked the other out on the date, should pay for the first date.”

“After that you can split it or take turns or whatever.”  ~ Testastic

Percentages…

“Had a girl tell me she was a feminist which I’m ok with 100% so when the bill came I paid for what I had with 20% tip and her reaction wasn’t great.”  ~ ghanksta57

“This is obviously a made up story but…”

“If you ask someone out on a date, you should pay. At least the first time.”

“If I invite a girl on a date and she insists on paying for herself, that’s a giant sign that she’s not into me.”

“And if I was invited on a date and then they expected me to pay, it would be the first and last date.”  ~ LightningRodofH8

Say “I Do!”

“Future marriage plans.”

“Actually happened to me on a blind date setup by a close friend who was trying to help out a colleague of his from work.”

“She was just a little bit desperate to find her love connection.”

“There was no second date.”  ~ udetme

What have we learned?

Be cool. Be calm. And just get to know someone before the third degree.

It’s a first date not a marriage proposal.

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People Explain What They Miss Most From The Early Days Of The internet

Do you remember when the internet was new? We had grunge, and dial-up and the computer was a mystery.

Can you believe how far we’ve come? Now the internet rules the world.

Those who can think back, admit it, we all kinda thought… “This will never last.”

How wrong we were.

But with growth comes massive change.

Redditor ransom0374 wanted to discuss the good ole days of the internet, a much simpler time.

They asked:

“What do you miss from early internet times?”

Do you remember the time?

All that was new…

“I miss the wild unknown frontier that the internet was.”

“It seemed there was so much discovery to be had on the internet. And if you were good at the internet ‘Hackerman’ you were like a God amongst your peers.”

“It seems like there isn’t anything ‘new’ on the internet anymore. No discoveries to be made.”  ~ SmallTownJerseyBoy

It had the look…

“I miss the look and aesthetic of old websites. Now everything is so clean and boring.”  ~ LucianaLeak

“I personally like the designs from 2003/2004 for example. If you go on sites such as Spacehey or YTMND, they look very unique with the basic layouts of text and GIFs.” 

“The moving text and how damn smooth it is, also appeals to me.”

“It looks very satisfying and futuristic. The crispy gifs always feel homely. And you could copy and paste images and icons that the site had.”

“But many modern sites, just not the “high-end” ones still allow you to do this.”

“Sites made for a Windows XP computer do look better than sites made especially for a phone.”  ~ KappaMazinksy

Ads, ads and ads… I hate ads. 

“Variety. There’s a popular tweet that says something like ‘the internet has turned into four websites where on each one people share screenshots of the other three.’”

“I miss when you could search a term and there would be dozens of sites dedicated to it or forums especially for it. Now it’s just ads, Wikipedia, and Reddit.”

“Oh, and not having ads shoved down your throat every time you search a term or navigate to a page.”

“I know there were pop ups and banners, which weren’t any better.”

“There was a few years there where you could Google something and half the first page wasn’t sponsored ads, that had nothing to do with what you looked up, and you could go to a website and it didn’t block the page with a full screen ad asking for your email to join their mailing list, or save 10% on their merchandise.”  ~ SociallyInept2020

Use responsibly…

“How people used to treat it.”

“The internet was, not just a novelty, but an amazing piece of technology that let anyone share anything.”

“It was so wholesome and loving, with everyone still being amazed at what we could do now.”

“Now? There’s so many websites that are designed to make you angry and radicalise your beliefs.”

“It’s quantity over quality. There was a time when nobody on Reddit shared politics, when Facebook was for socialising, when YouTube was where people uploaded stuff they were passionate about.” ~ CameOutAndFarted

Silly language…

“AIM away messages saying stupid crap like ‘BRB going to get some bagel bites.’”  ~ fluffy_boy_cheddar

“Don’t forget to update your personal profile with Blink 182 lyrics and the initials of your school sweetheart and some ASCII.”

“Browse for a new inappropriate buddy icon and strike up a convo with SmarterChild.”  ~ YOLOswagBRO69

“It was dumb and fun.”

“That all the webpages were just random people trying to figure out HTML.”

“There really wasn’t a corporate presence at all. You could click on a button and make a cardboard hand wave at someone’s cats.”

“You could dispense a coke from a machine in some dorm. It was dumb and fun.”  ~ diegojones4

Too much to know…

“The learning was endless.”

“There were almost an infinite source of information from all over the world.”

“If you wanted to find something all you had to do was search for it in Ask Jeeves or whatever and you’d find any website that had ever mentioned that thing.”

“There were more than 10 different websites. And at least it didn’t feel like I was being forced to sign up for a subscription after every click.”

“There were so many fun, cute stores to shop. Now it feels like everyone dresses and decorates the same.”

“I miss a lot of things about the early internet. I’m probably wrong, but it just felt safer than it does now?”  ~ thatgirlfromthething

Let’s chat

“AOL and Yahoo! chatrooms.”

“And the Population Zero forum (I think it was a forum). It was for a local band that attended Orange Glen High School in Escondido, California.”  ~ Reddit

When times were good…

“I was in my late teens when the internet was becoming accessible to everyone.”

“Our one household computer was in the kitchen & facing in a way so anyone coming in could see your screen.”

“I remember looking at someone’s website and my Dad passing by to get something to eat, asking me if the person on the website was my friend.”

“I miss those old days! The internet seemed endless & friendly.”  ~ LusciousofBorg

Now it’s a business…

“I miss when streaming was a hobby and now everyone wants to make it a career.”

“Meanwhile for every streamer that makes a living, there’s tens of thousands with 0 viewers, or 1 if they’re logged into their own stream.”  ~ Shadow_Bannedit

Crazy at my fingertips…

“The pure unadulterated wildness of it. This was the first video I was ever sent. Blew my damn mind. Lol.”

“It was funny, crass and anti-establishment. It was crap my parents wouldn’t, in a million years, let me watch.”

“But here it was, unrestricted and at my fingertips.”

“One thing folks born with the internet will never get to experience is that moment of pure joy when something as simple as a low quality and crass cartoon just blows your damn mind because of all the POSSIBILITIES it represents.”  ~ Vanviator

All the popular kids…

“I can’t remember what it was called, but Yahoo had this great music video program where it showed popular artists, and some very unknown folks.”

“I discovered some of my favorite artists having it play in the background all the time.”  ~ AtheneSchmidt

Oh, the good old days—they were wild and fun.

The internet is our bread and butter now. Can you even imagine life without it?

Do you want to?

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People Break Down The Best Psychological Tricks They Know

When faced with conflict, many of us have the tendency to respond in a combative manner if the situation appears to lack effective solutions.

But there is always a workaround that requires less energy and prevents exacerbation.

Depending on their intensity, examples of de-escalating tension in an encounter can include sitting closer to an aggressive individual to avoid a possible attack or looking deeply into the eyes of someone giving an unsatisfying answer to a serious question.

These and many other calming maneuvers may seem simple but they are effective Jedi mind tricks that could come in handy.

Curious to hear more examples, Redditor WindyBerniercardou2 asked:

“What was the very first psychological trick you learned that blew your mind?”

Ready to take notes? Then let’s begin.

Disorienting Trick

“If you ask someone to move over to an arbitrary different location to talk (could be 5 feet away) they are much more likely to listen to you and follow instructions. (One of my tricks as an elementary school teacher.)” – jerikkoa

Creating A Path

“When walking through a crowd don’t look at the People in front of you. Instead look past them where you are trying to go and most people will make room without noticing it.” – IridiumFlare96

Dealing With An Angsty Teen

“I taught teenagers in a really tough London school. A colleague taught me a brilliant trick to get a kid to calm down when they were angry:”

“Look them calmly in the eye and say ‘what do you want to happen next?’”

“Most of the time they were so caught up in emotion they hadn’t thought about the consequences of their dickery. As soon as you prod them to think about consequences, most of them would calm down straight away.” – Celtic_Cheetah_92

A New Lullaby

“Talking myself to sleep. I’ll think things like, ‘my bed is sooooo comfortable. Sleeping is soooo easy. I love sleeping. Sleeping is great.’”

“Instead of agonizing over why I can’t sleep. Positively reinforcing myself is my new lullaby lmao.” – HarrisonRyeGraham

Cure For Workplace Procrastination

“My first workplace trick that I still use regularly: people will procrastinate with their own work, but drop everything to quickly ‘correct’ someone else’s work.”

“Example: Bill needs to provide a paragraph of text to go in your company’s brochure. He’s been dragging his feet forever and it’s the last thing you’re waiting on but he keeps putting it off.”

“Go to where his paragraph should be and write a sh**ty version of what he’s supposed to do. Don’t invest more than ten seconds. ‘We do widget services. We are good at it. Our services are good for your widget needs.’”

“Send it to Bill saying ‘hey I filled in the last paragraph about widget services; can you check and make sure it meets your criteria, and I’ll send it along to the boss for approval?’ You’ll have Bill’s polished, fully composed text in about ten minutes.” – Much_Difference

Kill Them With Kindness

“Working as a waitress, if I noticed a customer was getting particularly impatient and it looked like they were going to be rude to me when I went over, when I would take the food over and before they got the chance to speak I’d say something like ‘So sorry for the wait, thanks for being so lovely about it!’”

“It seemed to catch them off guard and paint them as the ‘nice guy’ in my eyes, and more often than not their expression would change from pissed off to surprised, then they’d say something like ‘oh no problem it’s okay’ so they could keep being the nice guy and feel good about themselves and I avoid a chewing out.” – WeakAssPotatoes

Hush, Now

“Stop talking.”

“If you want to get more information out of someone, just let them speak. There are times in a conversation that things stop. Most people want to fill this themselves, but don’t. Let the other person do it.”

“This is especially useful if you think the person and their story is full of sh*t.” – I-am-a-meat-popcycle

Sounding Humble

“People are more likely to believe something you tell them if it’s self depreciating. You can make up some sort of lie but if you add something negative about yourself in it it sounds more believable.” – radpandaparty

Start Big

“Door in the face technique.”

“Basically someone who would have said no to a certain request if you asked it initially, is more likely to say yes to that request if you FIRST ask for something so big that you KNOW they’ll say no, and then the thing you actually want seems reasonable by comparison when you ask it afterward.” – harplesbian

Approaching A Big Chore

“Minimizing. If you feel like something is a really big chore or you just can’t get yourself to get up and go do something, minimize it to a small insignificant part.”

“Instead of doing all the garden work, say you’re just going to take the tools out so when you want to work you can. 90% of the time once you’re up and doing the small thing, the big bad chore doesn’t seem so bad now and you end up doing it.” – TroyMcpoyle

A Sale Tactic

“At a garage sale my father wanted $5 for a desk. It sat all day. Eventually he wrote $10, and $20 above the $5 and crossed them out making it look like he’d dropped the price twice. It was gone in under 30 minutes.” – mike_e_mcgee

Here You Go

“You can give a person talking on their phone an object and they will most likely take it because they are focused on the call. I regularly hand people empty plates, most of the time they just keep talking and don’t notice what I’m doing.” – PleaseTakeThisName

When I first moved to New York, I was on my guard a lot after surviving a mugging. After that harrowing incident, I came up with an on-the-spot tactic when I assumed I was being followed late at night on a walk home from work.

The guy wearing a hood was closing the gap behind me. I didn’t want to run because I thought if he was intentionally looking for trouble, he would chase after me.

He got close enough and started yelling, “Hey, dude. Dude, I’m talking to you. Hey man,” etc… I turned around and I told him, “Sorry, I’m allergic to corn.”

I don’t know how those words in that sequence materialized, but I kept walking.

I guess I threw him off, and as he was processing the random–and very false–statement, the distance between us widened and I eventually turned a corner towards a busier part of the neighborhood.

I turned back, and he was no longer behind me. I guess he thought I was not right in the head, and therefore not worth whatever his intentions were in pursuing getting a solo stranger’s attention.

I’ve deployed this “corn allergy” technique on maybe two or three more occasions and it has worked every time.

Regardless of whether or not their intentions were malicious, I sure wasn’t going to stick around to find out if my gut was sending false alarm distress signals.

For the record, I love corn.

Feel free to adopt my psychological trick to ward off any creepers in your future.

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People Describe The Most Corrupt Thing They’ve Ever Seen Their Employer Do

Workplaces can be a bit rough around the edges and, especially if you’re new to the workforce, it can sometimes be hard to determine if everything that’s going on is above board.

Sometimes, though, employers do things that are so obviously corrupt it can be hard to believe they get away with it.

Redditor Chillay_ asked:

“What’s the most corrupt thing you’ve witnessed your employer do?”

No Overtime, Even If You Work Over Time

“Worked in a restaurant that didn’t allow employees to work over 40 hours as they did not want to pay any overtime. Instead of you wanted to work extra or if they asked you to work extra they would delete hours off of your time card to keep it under 40. They always asked you when they did that in a kind of hush hushed way so it wasn’t exactly without permission but I think it was bullshit all the same.” -cloudstrife1191

“Permission or not they’re breaking the law. It’s not suddenly legal because you agreed to it” -Hugebluestr*pon

“My class action lawsuit alarm bells are going off right now. If your employer does this, I would recommend filing a complaint with the US Department of Labor and also contacting an attorney who deals with wage/hour violations who can review the case. These are serious violations that should be stopped.” -UKnowDaxoAndDancer

You Just Can’t Cancel

“Had a job out of college selling yellow pages advertising. A big part of the job was just renewing the old ads in the book and we had to call each business to have them renew their ad. But as the yellow pages book became more and more obsolete more customers would cancel their ads. So the company changed the policy of having us call each business and instead put in a policy that any customer who didn’t specifically call to cancel would be auto renewed.”

“Then they would purposefully send out the renewal notices late enough that the customers couldn’t cancel in time to avoid the following years charges. If one of us did actually get a call from a customer looking to cancel and with time to legitimately do so and we actually cancelled them….fired.” -totspur1982

“Literally Fraud. A lawyer could tear this yellowpage company to pieces.” -Redditor

“And I believe a lawyer did for this and a multitude of other reasons. We also go charge backs on our check for cancellations, even if it wasn’t your original account. A few employees filed a class action lawsuit against the company and won. I got a nice check out of that.” -totspur1982

“I worked for a company like that, the “Customer Service Reps” (people who would field the customer calls asking for returns) were graded and given bonuses for how many sales they ‘saved.’ ‘Saved’ meaning how many people who called to return our products they tricked into holding on to it past the full refund window.” -HamsterIV

Check Your Pay Stubs!

“Growing up my father always told me to save my pay stubs and time receipts. I ended up working a job in my early 20 ‘s at an airport moving cars. I get my paycheck one day and i realize that it’s not right. So i do a little digging, and a lot of math, and i figure out that the company was taking hours from me.”

“I ask around and it turns out that they were taking hours from literally everyone at the job site. After doing more math we figured out that over the six months we all worked together, the company had stolen a combined 400 hours from eight people.” -42spuuns

“Wage theft is more money than all other forms of theft.”

“Robbery, fraud, burglary, etc – none of it accounts for more value/dollars than companies stealing money from their employees through under or non payment of wages.” -inthrees

“Would you like to know why?”

“It’s because if you steal from your boss, you go to prison. If your boss steals from you, it usually doesn’t get reported. If it does get reported there’s no jail time, but you have the option to sue. Suing takes years and the judgment doesn’t usually amount to all that was stolen, and your lawyer takes their cut out of the judgment. The ruling class made theft profitable when they do it, and unprofitable when we do it, and that is why they’re the country’s biggest thieves.” -reverendsteveii

“Also suing an employer will black list you from an industry so f*cking fast. ETA: and whether or not it was fully justified doesn’t matter.” -Kai_Emery

Tip Theft Is Rampant

“I was working at a small brewery / bar, and caught the owner dipping into the tip jar at the end of big nights.”

“It was a new place that just opened and was kind of struggling during the off season. We literally had a staff of two bartenders and the owners (husband and wife), so the bar staff would pool and split that days tips.”

“Come to find out that he was taking a cut of the tips because “he worked there too”. When I confronted him, I explained that its actually a violation of the FLSA. In fact it’s even an exact example listed as illegal things to do with tips. He argued that it was his right as owner and fired me, so I reported him to Dept. of Labor.” -Rustee_nail

“My girlfriend used to work at a deli where the owner was taking half the tips. She’s never worked food, so she suspected it was wrong, but didn’t know for sure. She asked me like “hey is this normal?” as I was a chef for a couple years, and I explained how taking tips as the owner is probably the most frowned upon thing you can do in the food service industry.” -Mirraco323

Why Bother With A Warranty?

“I was a mechanic that found out that the company was not letting me fix customers cars that had oil leaks when the customers had paid for a 200k mile warranty. The manager would tell the service writer to say that the warranty company declined it and eventually started making me take a photo to him so that he could tell me that the leak wasn’t bad enough to fix.”

“The customer paid for a warranty and the company wasn’t holding up their end of the deal because it was costing them money. They are one of the most profitable car dealerships in my town and now have 3 dealerships and are expanding.” -Idontgetitbrah

So Many Kinds Of Tip Theft

“When I used to housekeep at a hotel, our head housekeeper would go into all of our checkouts and steal our tips before we could get to them. I remember a few times seeing tips in my rooms and foolishly not thinking to pick them up before they disappeared. A few of my other coworkers witnessed similar instances.”

“At one point, a guest came up to me and said she’d leave a big tip in her room for me bc it was a mess. I found out later that the head housekeeper cleaned the room herself.”

“She walked out like a year later bc our GM demoted her to regular housekeeper bc everyone had complaints about her. She was a very awful person in general.” -Redditor

“When I was a housekeeper you’d get your room list at the beginning of the shift, so if we couldn’t finish that day the girls would go in all their rooms and take the tips, that way if they were off the next day or the room was someone else’s, they’d get nothing. The head housekeeper though worked salary so wasn’t allowed to keep tips even if they were handed to her.” -Tinycatgirl

“When She Felt We Deserved Them”

“A few years ago I was working/living at a McDonald’s in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The area manager decided to “save” the store so she became very… involved… in its day to day micromanagement. One payday morning she made an announcement that, because everyone kept coming in asking for their checks and bothering her, she would be giving them to us when she felt we deserved them.”

“I called the local Department of Labor, who referred me to the state, who referred me back to local, who then told me they just didn’t care and weren’t looking into it. It eventually resolved itself anyway when she handed checks out the next day.” -twistedlemon732

“See there’s your mistake. You should’ve called McDonalds corporate threatening to call the DoL. Much more effective!” -zvug

“Actually, just call McDonalds corporate. Don’t even need to threaten to call. McDonalds doesn’t screw around when it comes to paying workers anymore. That kind of stuff has led to several million in lawsuit settlements in just the past ten years.” -betterthanamaster

We’ve Known Asbestos Was Dangerous For Decades

“I work underground in the mines. One place started having, what the workers found out later, was asbestos type rock in the ore. The company took samples of it and then said it’s kind of like asbestos, but it’s not old enough to harm you. Later after a bit of more concern from the workers, it was found out that the sample they took came back as inconclusive due to something else. They lied and allowed their workforce exposure to asbestos. I quit after that and found work elsewhere.” -Chillay_90

That’s Not How Overtime Works

“One time when I was a chef in college, I worked 14 days straight, with half of those days being 12 hour days. This all fell in one pay period too. It was rough but it was summer and I was gushing over the amount over overtime I was about to get. It came out to like over 70 hours overtime. I was supposed get almost an additional $1000 dollars on my paycheck. I calculated the math with tax and everything and couldn’t wait to pick up my paycheck the next week for that pay period.”

“I pick it up, and the paycheck is quite larger than I’m used to given I normally only worked 25 hours a week, but there is ZERO overtime on it. It was short almost a a thousand bucks. I got to the HR office the next day (it was located at a different casino) and ask, and they go ‘yeah so in Nevada, you only qualify for overtime if you average 40 hours a week normally.’”

“That sounded like bullshit to me, but I asked my mom who used to run finances for our family business, and she says that IS in fact 100% bullshit. She pulled up the statute online and it clearly said if you exceed 8 hours in a day, you get overtime. It said nothing about a weekly average.”

“So printed that bitch out and drove right back down to the HR office, and showed it to them. The lady at the desk who just told me that lie calls out the head of HR. She would frequent the different locations to check in with people and was always nice, but you could always tell she was shady as fuck. They both seem to get very nervous and in a stuttering voice ‘okay we will reevaluate’”

“I never heard anything or got any apology, but when the next paycheck came, the exact amount of overtime I calculated was put on that paycheck down to the penny.”

“I tell some of the other guys in the kitchen what happened, and apparently the family who owned the casino our restaurant was located in was known for pulling shit like this. Making ‘accounting errors’ knowing a lot of people who do direct deposit don’t even look at their paystubs. Funny how these accounting ‘errors’ always ended up in saving the company money, and never gave the employee extra cash lol. A server no more than a few months later had the same exact shit happen to him. Rat b*stards.” -Mirraco323

Gaming The System

“At the first company I worked at the general manager had all his personal expenses paid by the company. His wife also had a company credit card and was paid a salary but she didn’t work. The company paid for things like their groceries, house mortgage, car payments and family vacations. The kicker is he wasn’t the owner of the company.”

“He had a creative accountant that hid these expenses but the owners became suspicious and they hired an auditor. It took them about 4 years to figure it out. He was fired and his family fled the country so I am not sure what happened to him.” -optoph

If your employer is doing something that seems shady, there’s a way for you to report it if it’s safe for you to do so.

You’re probably not the only one who is affected, and people doing shady things don’t usually stop unless they’re made to.