Author: Matt Gilligan

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People Share What They Think All Teenagers Should Definitely Avoid

If there’s one thing I definitely remember about being a teenager, it’s that I didn’t really listen to the adults in my life who tried to give me good advice.

I guess that’s what all teenagers, do, right?

You know that’s the truth!

But I guess those of us that have been there still need to try to do our best and give these young folks advice and just hope that they listen to us…because we’ve been there and we’ve done that.

AskReddit users talked about what they think all teenagers should avoid. Let’s take a look.

1. All of this stuff.

“Don’t practice unsafe s*x. Condoms and pills are cheaper than having to raise an unplanned child.

Tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. No, they don’t make you cool.

They are very addictive, and you can’t easily shake off the habit.”

2. A deep, dark hole.

“If you haven’t been financially educated, credit cards.

It’s far too easy to get into debt with them and can really destroy your future for years.”

3. You have to open up.

“Emotions were discouraged in my household. Well, positive emotions were fine. But if I didn’t look happy my parents would get angry and yell at me.

Now I’m trying to fix it by teaching myself what my parents didn’t. But to be fair to them they were raised like that too and didn’t know any different.

So to anyone who’s going to have children or already has them, one of the biggest favors you can do your child is work through your own sh*t. Because it will follow them and you’ll realize it way too late.”

4. Totally creepy.

“Older men.

Teenagers often think that they’re cool for hooking up with dudes who are far older than them, but the people who hook up with teenagers as older adults are not the cream of the crop.

Everyone wants to think they’re mature enough to date an older person, but most of the time there’s going to be a power imbalance.”

5. Don’t ignore them!

“When you are little, it’s sweets which rot the teeth.

As we get older, the issue is different and you should be more concerned with bacteria on the gum line- cavities are still a thing, but so is inflamed, retracting gums.

Brushing before bed helps a lot. A lot. And flossing is also good. Take care of your gums.”

6. Avoid them.

“Toxic friends.

Seriously, if your friends only ever get you in trouble and treat you like a burden, they’re not your friends.

By all means the prospect of leaving a social group to find another social group can be pretty scary. Facing that fear is better than being around sh*tty people.”

7. Go easy on those things.

“I’m honestly surprised I dont see this mentioned yet, but energy drinks (at least not in moderation).

Especially the newer ones like Bang, that have a ton of caffeine. I was drinking upwards of 3-4 Monsters a day as a teenager and wondered why I had “insomnia”.

I’m pretty sure I dont have a heart problem, but even 1 cup of coffee makes my chest hurt a little now. Take care of your bodies, kids.”

8. You don’t need all that stuff.

“Aside from pregnancies and drugs, I’d say going into debt for stuff that’s not actually necessary to survive, like buying the newest phone, or car, or whatever.

Where I live it’s still pretty common that younger people take up loans or enter subscriptions/contracts (think phone, internet etc) to have the newest gadgets, only to realize they cannot afford after a while, then the late fees pile up etc, it can end badly.”

9. A really dumb move.

“Shoplifting.

One of my school friends did this years ago. This doesn’t make you cool, he now has a criminal record, prevented him from getting jobs when he was 16.”

10. Good advice.

“Not picking up a creative and/or athletic skill.

One of the problems people face today is obsolesence: the skills you learned in your youth become useless because something new over the horizon will replace it. Kids today look up to influencers and are amazing at making tiktoks, but honestly, that’s not gonna last.

An athletic skill will give you a strong and healthy body for your entire life. A sport develops a competitive and goal orientated mindset that translates easily into any job. A creative skill develops sensibilities that will shape your worldview. Displaying your creativity gives you the opportunity to express and share yourself.

Not to mention that both develop responsability, time management, and a love of practicing to perfect those skills. In the long run, any of these skills is worth more than any amount of likes.”

11. Be your own person.

“Letting other people make your decisions.

I let religion, family, friends society etc. dictate my behavior. It’s comfortable because you tell yourself they know what they’re talking about… They don’t.

Sure, you’ll make bad choices, but at least they’ll be yours and you can learn from them. There’s a special kind of regret you feel when the bad choices you make are a result of other people living your life.

Trust yourself enough you fail. Think, make a choice, and actually live.”

12. Plug up those ears!

“Loud concerts without ear protection.

Seriously. You get a decent set of earplugs and in 10 minutes you don’t even realize you’re wearing them and your ears are better for it in the long run.”

13. You’re going to change.

“A hard set beliefs of any type.

People change as they get older and their beliefs change with more information and experience.

Brains in humans do not fully develop until about 25.”

Now we want to hear from you.

In the comments, please share some good life advice that you think teens should hear.

Thanks in advance!

The post People Share What They Think All Teenagers Should Definitely Avoid appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Share the Craziest Crime Committed by Someone in Their Family

People don’t like to talk about the “outsiders” in their families – crime is one of those taboo subjects, I think, because it’s embarrassing to admit you’re related to someone who does bad things.

That’s what Reddit is for, though, so come and revel in the crimes committed by these 16 people’s relatives – and be glad they don’t belong to you!

16. They’re lucky to be alive.

My wife’s Cousin was arrested for the manufacturing of Meth, 3 times and wad sentenced to life. He, his Mom and Dad all cooked meth and supplied basically the entire area. The worst part is that during his last arrest he was taking the fall for his parents.

They were in large part why our small sleazy little trash heap of a town was one of the top 5 for meth in the United States at the time.

15. Not the pets!

Last year my psychotic mother burned down my childhood home (that her, my dad, my niece, my sibling, and siblings partner lived in) because she believed my dad was cheating on her, despite no evidence and this was not the first time she accused my dad of cheating with no evidence.

Effectively, she destroyed everything we had built and kept in that home, along with my dads dog and my sisters cat (cat was burned up, so never found; but the dog died of asphyxiation in my nieces room under her bed).

Then after the fire in what I can only construe as an act of desperation, she went to my bank and stole all of the money out of my accounts because she was secondary on the accounts (I was working on changing banks, but my new bank had yet to finalize the creation of my new account). Moral of the story is take your parents off your bank accounts when you turn 18.

She’s now serving time in a county jail for the arson because she took a plea deal and got a reduced sentence, which I still believe was utter crap. She played the poor old lady act to the judge and he took pity on her that she did not deserve.

This is the woman who eviscerated my self esteem and made my life hell ever since I was born. She was toxic and abusive, never told me the truth about anything, and is a greedy, manipulative person. I feel no shame in saying that I do not care about her. She’s lost any right to my love and respect.

14. This should be a movie.

My uncle used to dress up with a group of friends as DEA agents in the 80’s and raid crack houses.

Only to take the drugs and consume them.

13. Interesting is one word for it.

My father committed one of the first computer crimes in the 90s. A ton of files were corrupted due to a code he created because they fired him. FBI invaded our home and arrested him.

Was sent to federal prison for four years, which was interesting because there was never a crime committed of its nature before. They made a forensics file episode about it

12. Is this…real?

My great aunt disappeared off the face of the earth after her daughter’s wedding and nobody had any clue what happened.

Foul play wasn’t suspected or anything however her shotgun was missing.

Well like a month ago we found out she died last year. She had apparently skipped jury duty to go to the wedding and instead of doing anything logical she straight up ran away and lived in hiding in a backwoods town in Washington.

No letters or anything she just decided that the most effective way to get around jury duty to go to a wedding was to live in hiding for 30 years.

11. What a couple of doofuses.

Twin brothers boosted a car and rob the 711 like 1/2 mile from house. Ditched car 10 houses from theirs. How were they caught?

Officers respond to alarm triggered by clerk. Officer: Got an alarm here what happened. Clerk: Tim and Tom came in and robbed the store. Officer: How do you know it was these guys? Clerk: They are 6′ 4″ twins who come in every day. I know their shape and voice.

The car 911 operator: 911 what is your emergency. Neighbor: Was watching TV and 2 guys park a car in front of my house. One guy got out with like a windex bottle and cleaned all the door handles and door areas. Then opened door and the other guy took the stuff and cleaned the inside areas. Then they ran off up the street. Dispatch: Can you describe the 2 individuals? Neighbor: Well it was Tim and Tom the twins that live up the street from me they’re like 6′ 4″ and they are twins.

10. It’s a little bit impressive.

My uncle stole one of those oil candles from our table at a Hard Rock Cafe once. When we got outside he pulled it from his jacket with it still lit.

9. So icky.

My Cousins husband got caught on a predator chasers livestream trying to kidnap a 14 year old boy.

8. Why, though?

My grandpa wouldn’t obey the train warnings. He would try and beat the train rather than wait.

1st time he got hit in his new convertible on the way to prom with my grandma. Had barely started on the payments and car was totaled. Luckily they were both okay.

2nd time was a little less reckless but still dumb. He was driving a semi and it broke down on the tracks. He kept trying to get the tractor trailer to start, rather than lose his rig and load. Semi got hit by the train, total loss and fucked up his back.

7. Don’t mess with Mama.

My mom set a dude on fire.

When I was young I had a babysitter, named Chris. He was the uncle of my two best friends.

He was also abusive.

He liked to do things to me in front of them. Make them listen to my cry and scream. Nothing physical, I should mention. More, psychological.

Anyway, I didn’t tell anyone about it. (And in fact only learned this story about 2 years ago). But it turns out that my best friends did.

They told my mom and she was pissed.

Soon after that there’s a party at my friends parents house. My mom goes and sees Chris. He’s all nice to her. They’re outside in the backyard.

She starts kinda joking around. Roughhousing. Messing with him.

She grabs some lighter fluid and sprays some on Him.

Hahaha, just a joke.

She lights a match.

“Ha! You wouldn’t do it, would you?”

And she lights him on fire.

According to my mom, he was put out quickly so he was fine.

But she told him that’s what its like when you’re scared for your life. And then she left.

Apparently he flew back to Florida the next day.

6. It’s a compulsion.

My sister shoplifts uncontrollably.

She shoplifts everything everywhere she goes.

Her daughter just turned 1 and she has stolen every bit of formula her daughter ever used.

It’s insane she’s never been caught

5. Hopefully a wakeup call.

My brother got completely inebriated one night and stupidly drove home.

He woke up early in the morning to the sound of a baby crying. He looked around and noticed he didn’t recognize the house.

He quickly got up and walked outside to his car halfway in the driveway/street and still running. Got in his car and drove away as quickly as he could. Turns out it was some random house about 5-10 minutes away from our actual house.

He never knew whose house it was and never got caught. He also slowed down his drinking after that.

4. Every family should have lore.

My dad’s cousin erased all family member names from a property deed except for his father’s. The paperwork had been water damaged so there was no easy way to tell what should have been there.

Family lore says that he also paid off some local politicians / office workers to make the new deed stand.

3. Yeah, definitely illegal.

In college we got a new printer and printed off a bunch of fairly convincing $20 bills, roughed them up and used them at a bunch of fast food restaurants.

Didn’t realize how dumb it was until years later.

2. Jail. Yes.

A distant cousin got her terminally ill father to give her power of attorney and then stole all of his money so she wouldn’t have to split it with her brother.

Don’t worry, she did go to jail as her rush to clean him out involved a lot of fraud and forgery.

1. What a jerk.

My father, when I was still very young, used a fake name and pretended to be a wedding planner for a young couple. That young couple hired him, since he seemed trustworthy and is an excellent liar, giving him access to their savings for wedding supplies and such that would be needed.

Instead, he stole all of the money out of their account and then ran away with it. As far as I am aware, he was never caught and the money was never returned to them.

The worst part is that the poor couple never even got their wedding and had almost nothing left afterwards.

I honestly don’t know how I would handle something like this.

If you’ve got a crazy criminal in your family and want to share the details, our comments are open!

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Scams That Most People Just Accept as a Normal Part of Life

Have you ever noticed that something new comes out, people freak out about how unfair it is, but then a few years later it’s just part of our everyday lives and everyone seems to have forgotten we didn’t like it?

There are a surprising number of things in this world that we actually know are scams, but the companies just keep going, and we get used to them, and that’s that.

If you want examples, well – here are 13 that might surprise you.

13. If stuff doesn’t happen…shouldn’t we get our money back?

Homeowner’s insurance:

“Sorry, we’re not selling new policies in Your Area right now because Thing just happened” where Thing = earthquake, wildfire, flood, and other things you might … want to insure against?

“We don’t cover That Sort of Problem.” where That Sort of Problem = anything that actually happens to your house, due to weasel-wording loopholes

“You submitted a claim? We’re going to triple your rates FOREVER after this.”

12. Your money should work for you.

ATM fees and low interest savings accounts.

I know times are tough y’all but as someone who works in the financial industry if you don’t already have a high yield savings account for your liquid funds I strongly recommend it. Ally, Cap One, Amex all offer decent rates for what it is.

Earning a few dollars in interest is way better than the pennies your big national bank is paying you.

As far as stocks: it’s a great idea for funds you’re not going to be expecting to use for the next six months to a year. Time in the market is essential, you don’t want to attempt to become a day trader. Index funds and mutual funds are your friends.

hose portfolios typically track a certain aspect of the market and average out your returns; it’s fun to pick individual shares of companies you know but that’s something you really have to sit down and weigh the pros and cons on.

Always do your own due diligence, and this is not even considering taxes. I’m definitely not a CPA.

11. This is hilarious.

Idk if anyone remembers Power Balance bracelets from the early 2000s. A lot of celebrities and athletes advertised for them and they claimed to improve your balance and overall health.

Well being a rubber bracelet made in a factory, it was all nonsense but they still sold millions of units before shutting down. A new company owns them now and you can still buy them though

10. It’s a romantic gesture?

Those registries that people pay money to “name a star.”

9. We’re slowly figuring this one out.

Paying for cable tv. The whole idea of paying was to create a revenue stream separate from that of marketing. There are a few out there (HBO, I think) but generally we pay to access the content and still have to spend 20% of the time sitting through commercials.

Then streaming comes in and were free of advertisements again, for a bit. Now YouTube has tons of ads and other streaming services are talking about adding ads as well.

8. It’s just business.

The games at fairs/carnivals.

Theres a Mark Rober video about carnival games – surprisingly interesting for a video about statistics

7. Totally worthless.

Idk if it’s normalized but McAfee security service. In my own experience with the service, it’s done literally nothing for me except pop up every time I open my computer or nearly every 4 hours or so.

I remember my ex gf’s grandma who fell victim for the service. I tried to talk them down from it and not to pay the service but I was much too late for any semantics. So I just took it to memory that every computer already comes with security software and any outside security software, if not installed properly, checked with 100% concentrated power of will, you’re going to have a bad time.

At least, I’m convinced that the McAfee service is just a virus that makes you pay similar to some of those other viruses that get your photo via your personal webcam, lock your computer and show you a copy pasted photo of a “legal document” urging you to pay a ransom, what was it, ransomware.

So my belief is that Even though most people may use McAfee as a computer firewall security service, it’s more than likely a scam. Downvote me to hell, but at least convince me otherwise first.

6. They’re there…but not on the internet.

Hot milfs in your area.

It is my understanding that they are interesting in meeting me TONIGHT.

5. It’s all psychology.

Reducing a price by 1 cent to trick our brains into thinking a product costs less than it actually is.

4. This one, for sure.

Manufacturers refusing documentation to private repair enterprises and requiring you to get your products fixed by the dealer.

Basically, the reason for the “Right-to-repair” movement.

I used to work with John Deere and they were terrible about it. Farmers are looking for older equipment because they don’t have those software lockouts.

3. I miss the happy beginnings.

Social media. From their happy beginnings they are now mostly a funnel used to ram as many advertisements into your mind as inhumanly possible. “Sponsored Posts” every third or fourth item – I see you, IG/FB/Red/etc. And that’s not even mentioning the extensive filtering network that “curates” the information you get to see when you are looking for something. “Curated information” is just a nice expression for you being conditioned to form certain opinions / buy more stuff. Social media groom minds.

. . EDIT: Wow, over 11k upvotes! If we may assume that 1 in 10 people bother to vote at all, this means that my post has been seen by over 100,000 people! This illustrates the amazing power of the internet.  The irony is not lost on me that my most popular post ever should be about how social media have become overly commercialized to the point of being a scam =)

Things I learned from the comments & some light research:

Many of you quoted the old saying “when the product is free, YOU are the product”. The earliest attribution that I could find was to an artist named Richard Serra in 1973. To this I could add, “there is no such thing as a free lunch”.

Building and running the internet is not free. In fact, several sources state that the internet consumes over 10% of the global electricity supply.  Let that sink in for a bit…  Using 10% of the global electricity supply is equivalent to running about half the USA (or Germany + Canada + South Korea + France + UK + Italy).  Put another way, 10% of global CO2 emissions from electricity generation are due to running the Internet.

If we estimate that 50% of internet activity consists of sending around advertising and spam, we have to ask ourselves: is that really worth spending 5% of the world’s entire electricity supply on?  Or would it not be better to dial that fluff wayyy back and start charging users a fair fee?  Speaking for myself, I believe that the internet is an invaluable addition to our lives and I would be willing to pay a fair & transparent fee for an ad-free, tracker-free, spam-free, bot-free internet experience, certainly if that means that we will also save 5% of the world’s global electricity. Note that I am not saying the Internet should be censored, far from it!

Of course, designing and implementing something like that will be very difficult; I think we will need to look to the EU for innovations in this space.

I also learned that my ad blocking settings were overdue a refresh. I found that on my iOS (iPhone, iPad) in particular it is hard to find effective ad blockers.  This is due to the fact (TIL) that Apple does not allow browsers other than Safari on iOS; the Firefoxes and Chromes you download on those devices are simply copies of Safari with a different jacket slapped on to it (for which Mozilla and Google pay Apple a pretty penny no doubt). This means that spectacularly effective open source ad blockers that should work on Firefox and Chrome and the like, won’t work on your iPhone and iPad.  With some digging in the app store I did find something that seems to work, but let me not advertise here.  Suffice to say, it is useful to periodically update your ad blocking system and it seems that (free) open source blockers are the best of the bunch.

Am I contradicting myself by saying that: (1) I am willing to pay a fair price for my internet use but (2) at the same time I am installing ad blockers? Yes a bit – but I install the ad blockers mainly out of a concern for my privacy, which I believe is under heavy attack. Also, I believe the internet media have crossed a line – I mean I can put up with some (clearly identified) advertising here and there, but who would enjoy a newspaper if at least 25% of it would be overt advertising and maybe half of the rest cleverly disguised highly personalized paid content?  If I can take a pair of automated scissors to such a rag, I believe I should.

2. Apple is king of the monopolies.

iPhones disabling themselves if you put in 3rd party parts. I can understand shutting off a certain aspect, but not bricking the whole phone

1. There are always more coming.

Listen up. Everything is a scam. Everything.

But if you send me $19.99 I can show you how to turn the tables on the scammer and get HIS money.

Limited time offer, send money now!

I don’t want to say humans are basically sheep, but…we definitely prefer the roads with less resistance, don’t you think?

If you can think of more examples, drop them in the comments!

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Learn About How a Teacher Became a Legend After She Punted Her Final to Help a Student With Cancer

There are a lot of sayings about rules, aren’t there? Rules are rules. Rules are there for a reason. Rules are meant to be broken.

Anyone who has worked anywhere that there is an administration that mostly exists just to uphold rules, though, knows that crap can get out of hand, and fast.

This school had a policy where, if you had very good attendance through the semester, you would be allowed to skip a final in a class you had an A in before the end of the course.

Everyone loved the policy, because who wouldn’t!

Image Credit: Reddit

Well, it turns out kids with valid reasons to miss a bunch of school.

Like, say, a child with cancer who has required appointments and checkups and treatments and recoveries.

Image Credit: Reddit

The administration refused to let him skip his Spanish final, even though he had managed to keep an A through all of that horrible experience.

Because rules, obviously.

Image Credit: Reddit

The teacher had his back, though, and just told the administration fine, she would give and score his final.

Then she did what she wanted.

Image Credit: Reddit

In the end, everyone won – and let’s be honest, the administration didn’t lose, either.

Image Credit: Reddit

They have great teachers and great students, so they can’t really be disappointed, right?

Do you hate things like this, where people can’t seem to see gray areas or make necessary exceptions? It burns me up!

Let’s commiserate about it in the comments!

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Winners Donate a Lot of Money and 4 More Secret Truths About People Who Won the Lotto

I’m not sure it’s a secret that sometimes lottery winners struggle to handle the sudden, major influx of cash.

It’s an adjustment for anyone who comes into money quickly, I think, but lottery winners are like a secret club that you get into whether you like it or not.

A few of them are below, ready to spill what it’s like after the ticket has been cashed.

5. They do get new friends.

Image Credit: Pexels

Not everyone can jet off to Singapore for the weekend, and even if the lottery winner was willing to pay, people still have to work and stuff!

Better to find someone else who has time and money to spare.

4. You might not be able to stay anonymous.

Image Credit: Pexels

Many states have laws that require you to do a news conference and take a photo holding up a big check with your name on it.

That doesn’t mean you can’t be in disguise… but that doesn’t exactly mean you can be anonymous.

3. They’re still considered “new” rich.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Even though your rich new neighbors didn’t technically earn their money either – they probably got it from their family – they’ll look down on you for the way you came into yours.

The good news? You’re still rich. For now.

Sad news? 70% of lotto winners eventually go broke.

Yikes!

2. They typically donate a good amount.

Image Credit: Pexels

Lottery winners are great about sharing the love…at least before their irresponsible money management forces them back into the ranks of us regular folk.

1. They hate when people ask them about money.

Image Credit: Pexels

If you wouldn’t ask a regular person the question about their money – where they keep it, how they invest it, how they spend or save it – don’t ask a lottery winner.

It’s just bad manners.

It might be an adjustment, but it’s one I’d be willing to make.

If you’ve won the lottery, tell us in the comments what your experience was like!

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This is Why “It’s A Wonderful Life” Flopped at the Box Office, and How It Ended Up a Holiday Classic

There’s a good chance your family has some kind of tradition when it comes to the movies you watch during the holidays. It might be children’s classics, like Charlie Brown or How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

It might be modern favorites like Christmas Vacation or A Christmas Story, or maybe you just love marathoning every Hallmark Christmas movie they can throw at you in the span of two months.

If you’re like my family, you enjoy mixing in an oldie or two, like White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Meet Me in St. Louis, and yes, It’s a Wonderful Life.

Image Credit: Republic Pictures

The story of George Bailey’s descent into despair and subsequent triumph over the certainty that everyone would be better off without him has become a tradition for many, and I don’t know about you, but that heartwarming ending gets me every single time.

It’s a little surprising to learn, then, that audiences originally panned the film so hard that it was considered a complete box office flop – this despite Academy Award magnet Frank Capra at the helm and America’s beloved everyman, James Stewart, in the starring role.

None of that mattered to audiences in 1946, and the flop was so bad that it killed Liberty Films, Capra’s production company.

Image Credit: Republic Pictures

Frank Capra had made a name for himself in the 1930s with hits like It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He took a break during the war to produce propaganda films for the government, but in 1946 he was ready to jump back into producing films about the thing he loved most – freedom.

Liberty Films was born, and they decided their first film would be an adaptation of a short story titled The Greatest Gift (alternate title: The Man Who Was Never Born).

It was, of course, It’s a Wonderful Life, and with a $2 million budget, it was a huge risk.

The production process was fraught with drama. There were script rewrites, a bloated shooting schedule, and they have trouble keeping crew, all of which meant most of the budget was gone before filming even wrapped.

Image Credit: Republic Pictures

It’s a Wonderful Life released just after The Best Years of Our Lives, and it soon became clear that audiences and critics alike preferred the hard-hitting drama of the latter to the message of hope and the worth of simple values espoused by Capra and Co.

The Best Years of Our Lives won awards, it won the box office, and everyone forgot It’s a Wonderful Life ever existed. Capra sold his Liberty Films to Paramount and he only directed 5 more films in his career (none of which achieved what his pre-war movies did).

In 1974, though, a clerical error resurrected It’s a Wonderful Life from certain death on a dusty shelf.

The woman who owned the film’s copyright forgot to file for a renewal, and the movie entered public domain. Any television station could air the movie as often as they liked without paying a cent – and as you may have realized, networks aren’t shy about roping in viewers with – to quote Mr. Potter – “sentimental hogwash.”

People who were experiencing life after WWII wanted nothing to do with the sweet nostalgia of the film, but it turns out that audiences 30 years later had a strange sort of yearning for those days.

Image Credit: Republic Pictures

The Wall Street Journal spoke with Capra about the film’s revival after it was clear it was going to stick.

“It’s the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.

The film has a life of its own now and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it.

I’m like a parent whose kid grows up to be president.

I’m proud…but it’s the kid who did the work. I didn’t even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea.”

In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that Republic Pictures, the film’s original copyright owner, could regain ownership of the movie. What that means is that now NBC is the only one who is allowed to show it, and they manage to show some restraint – they typically air it once or twice during the holidays.

So, there you have it. Proof that you really never can predict success, and there are no bad stories – sometimes you just have to wait 30 or so years to find the right audience.

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The Air Force Is Putting Lasers on Their Fighter Jets

You read that right, my friends – laser death rays are a really real thing that the actual military is going to be utilizing in the near future.

I mean, I realize that most of this timeline is a horror show and The Jetsons’ promised us flying cars and our hoverboards are a horrible imitation, but I mean…death rays are pretty cool, right?

The Air Force is working on a laser weapon, known as SHiELD. It’s a pod-mounted laser that’s meant to protect fighters from incoming missiles, and will be used initially to protect older fighters with less effective stealth technology.

Image Credit: U.S. Navy

SHiELD stands for Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator. Lockheed’s plan is to mount the laser on the fuselage or wing of a fighter jet, and will eventually be used in conjunction with a second weapon – the Tactical Airborne Laser Weapon System – to shoot down air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles.

At the moment, pilots only have access to passive defenses against incoming missiles, like evasive action or managing to fly outside an incoming missile’s sensor arc, maybe launching flares or other measures meant to confuse tech.

Image Credit: U.S. Air Force

This new laser would be the first active anti-missile defense in history – and yeah, go ahead and imagine something straight out of Star Wars.

The systems will take up space on fighter jets that is typically reserved for bombs and missiles of their own, which means they won’t be added to stealthy aircraft.

Instead, SHiELD and TALWS will go on fighter jets like the F-15E, F-15C, and the new F-15EX, because they have room for more than one bomb the way it is.

Image Credit: U.S. Air Force

And get this: the laser could very conceivably be controlled by something that looks a lot like R2D2.

Even so, there are a few downsides to using lasers. Water moisture and smoke particles in the air can dilute a laser’s strength, and they can’t travel all that far without the beam weakening.

They’ll also have to be able to focus on the missile for long enough to heat it to the point of dissolving, which could prove tricky in an actual combat scenario.

Image Credit: U.S. Air Force

Even if there are problems that still need to be untangled, there’s no doubt that laser weapons are the future, and will likely go on almost all warplanes in the future.

All that’s left is to make it more practical, more affordable, and then the future is here, my friends.

And I say we could all use a win.

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Normal Words That Can Be Pronounced Two Very Different Ways

No one would argue the fact that English is a tough language. It beats up other languages in dark alleys and goes through their pockets for loose vocab – at least, that’s the word on the street.

Which is why it’s not surprising there are several words that are spelled exactly the same, and mean the same thing, but are pronounced differently depending on the speaker.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Fun, right?

At least if you know about these 10 words in advance, you’ll see them coming.

10. Data

It can be pronounced DAH-ta or DAY-ta, and is defined as “individual facts, statistics, or items of information.”

Officially, any word that comes directly from Latin (“data” does), and the stressed syllable ends in a vowel, then the vowel should have a long sound in English.

So DAY-ta is technically correct.

9. Laboratory

Do you go to work in the LAB-ore-a-tor-ee or the la-BORE-a-tree?

Easy – are you British? If so, you use the latter, and the Americans, the former.

8. Vase

There’s VAYS (rhymes with “lace”) and VAHZ (rhymes with “Oz”), but in the modern world, the latter pronunciation often comes off as too refined or “snooty” for most ears.

It is, of course, popular in Britain.

7. Mature

This one has more than two pronunciations – mah-CHURR, mah-CHOOR, and ma-TYOOR.

It used to be that pronunciations with the long ‘T’ were preferred and the others seen as lowbrow, but that’s shifted since the 1980s.

6. Tomato

This one has been made famous by a song, and New Englanders, especially, will cling to the tuh-MAH-toes with their cold, dead fingers.

The rest of us enjoy a nice summer tuh-MAY-toe and less pretension.

5. Appalachia

Have you visited Appa-LAY-sha or Appa-LATCH-a, my friends?

This one is probably dependent on which side of the Mason-Dixon line you call home. Northerners are more likely to pronounce the middle syllable like “lay,” while Southerners choose “latch.”

4. Gala

Will you be attending the GAY-luh or the GAL-uh, my good woman?

Well, properly it should be GAY-luh, since the stressed syllable ends in a vowel, but since the 1930s, either version is understood and accepted.

3. Leisure

LEH-shure or LEE-shure again comes down to South vs. North, with most Southerners preferring the British pronunciation that rhymes with “pleasure” and others opting to pronounce it so it rhymes with “seizure.”

2. Electoral

Where you you put the stress on this word – is it el-LECK-toral or el-ek-tore-ul? Maybe el-leck-TOR-al?

There’s no right answer, but the “uncultivated” latter choice is becoming more and more popular.

1. Celtic

Even though the traditional and native pronunciation is KEL-tick, the word came to English through French, which utilizes the softer ‘c’, resulting in SELL-tick.

Classical Latin would also demand the hard ‘c,’ but I would try convincing any Boston Celtics fans to change their ways, if I were you.

Good luck in the world of reading aloud. It’s designed to terrifying you!

Do you have a memory of making a mistake reading aloud? Share so we can all cringe along with you!

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A Driverless Race Car Swerved Into a Barrier for No Reason, So Maybe The Future Isn’t as Close as We Think

There are times when it feels like the future is RIGHT NOW.

We have instant communication with anyone in the world at the snap of our fingers. There are jetpack men flying through the sky. The military is developing death ray lasers for their fighter jets.

Plenty of people think driverless cars are going to be here before we know it; we’re going to be able to eat with both hands or shut our eyes if we need to while our cars take care of the details.

Now, as someone who enjoys driving a manual transmission, that doesn’t sound all that good to me – and after you read about what happened to this driverless race car, it’s probably not going to sound that good to you, either.

The autonomous car came courtesy of Roborace, who is involved in an autonomous racing league. They were broadcasting their Season Beta 1.1 race in order to showcase the potential of high speed auto races that don’t endanger human drivers.

One of the cars didn’t make it, I’m afraid.

One of the engineers explained what happened on Reddit, and said the steering mechanism was locked to the right during a process in which a human driver guides the car to the start line. That meant when the race started for real, the car drove straight into a barrier on the right side of the track.

The engineer called it an “extremely rare event,” and honestly, it sounds to me like it was more human error than an oopsie by the car.

You should definitely check this shizz out for yourself, though – there are a surprising number of self-driving racing leagues around, and you never know.

We might get treated to another crash here and there without having to worry if someone has gotten hurt in the process.

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70% of Lottery Winners End Up Totally Broke and Other Things Lotto Winners Won’t Tell You About Life After the Win

All kinds of people dream of winning the lottery. Hitting it big, striking it rich, and never having to work another day in their lives. Their kids’ college paid for, retirement handled, no more stress or worries (at least when it comes to finances).

The dream is what keeps people buying tickets, even when they know the odds are beyond long.

And some people, of course, win – but that doesn’t mean all of their dreams come true.

At least not forever.

6. They find out who their friends are.

Image Credit: Pexels

People will come out of the woodwork asking for money, even sometimes if they don’t really need it.

Harsh, maybe, but an easy way to weed out your true friends.

5. 70% of lottery winners end up broke.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Whether they won $500 million or “just” $1 mil, it takes them an average of 5 years to blow through it all.

4. It’s all relative.

Image Credit: Pexels

Even people who won more than a million bucks have reported feeling like they got the shaft when they’re in a room with people who won $100 million or more.

3. Everyone deserves a second chance.

Image Credit: Pixabay

If there’s a second-chance drawing, where you mail in your ticket or register the serial number, do it.

You don’t even have to buy another ticket, and many people don’t know about them, so the odds are better than usual.

A bit.

2. They regret their impulse purchases.

Image Credit: Pexels

Sure, you have the money for that 10,000 square-foot house, but do you need it? Do you want to pay someone to clean it? Is it haunted?

These are all questions you’ll answer…before you plant the For Sale sign in the yard.

1. They still play.

Image Credit: Pixabay

I mean, gambling is an addiction for many, so this shouldn’t be a surprise.

And since they’re broke now, they have just as much reason to buy a ticket as the rest of us.

I’m not sure whether any of these surprise me or not.

But I’ve gotta say…I’d still take my chances if the money was offered.

The post 70% of Lottery Winners End Up Totally Broke and Other Things Lotto Winners Won’t Tell You About Life After the Win appeared first on UberFacts.