People Break Down The Most Random Animal Facts They Know

Did you know that the blue-and-yellow macaw can live between 65 and 70 years? To put it simply: it will likely outlive a bunch of you (including me). It can also talk and bond very closely with humans.

It’s a pretty striking and fascinating animal. They’re also pretty readily available. I ran into a woman in the park the other day who had one perched on her shoulder!

But guess what? That’s just one of the multitudes of animals on this planet, and each one is cooler than the last.

That’s what we were so kindly reminded about after Redditor SerialNarcissist asked the online community:

“What random animal fact should everyone know?”

“If you’re camping…”

“If you’re camping and you hear an animal moving around, it’s probably a skunk or a beaver or a porcupine. Bears, moose, and other large animals are surprisingly sneaky.” ~ TypicalCricket

“The ones who don’t make it…”

“A Tasmanian Devil gives birth to dozens of babies, however, the mother only has four nipples. So it’s a race for those babies to reach one of them. The ones who don’t make it are then eaten by the mother.” ~ downvotecitybitch

“Dragonfly nymphs…”

“Dragonfly nymphs are aquatic and can launch their lower jaw like a grappling hook. They use this for hunting other pond-dwelling creatures before they leave the water. Probably the most badass thing in nature for a set of wings.

“That said they have a ridiculous hunt success rate, somewhere above 90%, so you best watch out if you’re a fly just enjoying your day.” ~ TheMadMellom

“You can tell which one…”

“Elephants can be left tusked or right tusked, similar to how humans are right or left-handed. You can tell which one an elephant is by the shorter tusk, if it’s a short right tusk then they’re right tusked and vice versa.” ~ CubsFan30

“A drone bee dies…”

“A drone bee dies immediately after mating with a queen due to powerful ejaculation, causing his penis to eject from his abdomen. He dies having the best orgasm of his life.” ~ insideoutcollar

“If a male clownfish loses his partner…”

“If a male clownfish loses his partner, he will develop female reproductive parts and mate with his male offspring.” ~ [deleted]

“An owl’s eyes…”

“An owl’s eyes are so large that they are immobile, they never develop any muscles for moving their eyes inside their sockets. Instead, they move their entire head.” ~ i-throw-socks-at-a-cat

“Penguins have a gland…”

“Penguins have a gland behind their eye that converts salt water into freshwater.” ~ Ozymandias200

“Leave them alone.”

“A moose will kill you. Like… Leave it alone.”

“It will gore you. It will kick you. It will headbutt you until you’re just a shredded corpse hanging from its antlers.”

“It will kill you in your car. It will kill you in a forest. It will kill you in a swamp.”

“You can’t just run one over with your car if it’s on the road. You can’t run away once it’s spotted you.”

“They are not nice, calm, or gentle creatures. They are massive, terrifying beasts. Leave them alone.” ~ [deleted]

“If you get bitten by a cat…”

“Cat bites are way more dangerous than most people think. A cat bite might not look like much from the outside, but their long, pointy teeth penetrate deep and are much more likely to cause an infection than a dog bite.”

“If you get bitten by a cat (like when trying to pet their tummy), always disinfect the wound, even if it doesn’t look bad.” ~ WarKiel

“They are part of a group of birds…”

“European magpies are the only non-mammal species able to recognize themselves in a mirror test.”

“They are part of a group of birds called Corvids which is basically the crow family, birds such as crows, ravens, rooks, magpies, jays, and jackdaws. Corvids are the most intelligent of all the birds and some of the most intelligent animals on earth.”

“Studies are revealing more and more about this amazing group of birds and their cognitive power easily rivals apes and monkeys –– if not surpasses them. Go check out some documentaries or read up on them… it’s fascinating!” ~ Spawkee

“Orcas hunt out of boredom…”

“Orcas hunt out of boredom and will often toss the dead body of a seal around as if it was just a ball.” ~ IDAbaffal

“Some species of shark…”

“Some species of shark, like the grey nurse shark, eat their siblings (or the egg cells that would have become their siblings) while still in the uterus, meaning they become cannibals before they’re even born.” ~ Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

“They don’t even have feet…”

“Maggots can climb walls. Those don’t even have feet but god damn they hustle around the room.” ~ iremovebrains

“Call ducks were bred…”

“Call ducks were bred to aid their owners in hunting. They make loud noises to lure predators.”

“They’re cheeky, scared cutie-pies. They waggle their tail when they’re happy. They have oil from their butt which they use to clean themselves and keep themselves dry.”

“In some areas, it is illegal to own only one call duck because they’re a very social bird. They’re the cutest pets with personalities of their own.” ~ cteduck

“They are fertile only…”

“Female pandas ovulate only once a year. They are fertile only two or three days of the year.” ~ awesomecutepandas

“Generally…”

“CATS DO NOT DRINK ENOUGH WATER!!! Generally, cats don’t drink enough water to keep themselves properly hydrated.”

“In addition to the fact that their tongues aren’t designed to scoop water like dog tongues, it’s also possible for them to feel too anxious to drink from their bowl.”

“Cats in the wild derive most of their water intake from the moisture in their food. If all you feed is kibble, your cat is in a perpetual state of dehydration, which can lead to an overwhelming amount of health issues for them.” ~ OhBee86

How many of these awesome animal facts did you know?

All of them?

None of them?

Few of them?

The world is a fascinating place, isn’t it? We truly take it for granted.

We should probably stop that, especially if we want others to enjoy the wonders of the animal kingdom for years to come.

November 20, 2021

People Share The Best Facts About Language That No One Seems To Know

Language may seem like a pretty boring subject—we all had to study it throughout our school years, after all.

But languages are way weirder—and way cooler—than you might think.

Redditor FamousTeam90 asked:

“What is a fun language fact you know?”

Italian Is Newer And Older Than You Might Think

“The official Italian language is both new and old. It is based on an old dialect that was only adopted by the Italian state after unification in the late 1800’s.”

“It’s based on a literary language spoken by upper class Tuscans in ~~11th-12th~~ 13th century. Most regions in Italy still speak their own dialect and the official Italian taught in schools.”

“Here’s a brief history for the curious.” –TrevArts

“My mother’s grandparents immigrated to the US from northern Italy around the turn of the 20th century. They apparently didn’t speak standard Italian, they spoke Lombard, which is a funky looking language/dialect. My mom said her grandparents kind of cut off the end of words like the French do.” -SagiTsukiko

“My grandparents originally lived near Napoli and spoke Neapolitan. Compared to standard Italian a lot of the pronunciations are totally different. My mother learned it from her parents and when we went to Italy to visit relatives who didn’t immigrate she got comments from people on how she spoke the old language instead of the new one.” -PrivateVasili

Finnish Has A Lot Of Homophones

“The Finnish phrase ‘kuusi palaa’ can be understood in 9 different ways:

“Six pieces / Six of them return / Six of them are on fire / The number six returns / The number six is on fire / A spruce is on fire / A spruce returns / Your moon is on fire / Your moon returns”

“A piece = pala / (multiple) pieces = palaa / A moon = kuu / Your moon = kuusi / A spruce = kuusi / Six = kuusi / To be on fire = palaa / To return = palata / Return(s) = palaa” -InfamousChibi

“‘How many do you want?’ ‘Kuusi palaa.’ ‘My moon is what?’” –joha130

English Is Changing

“We think of English, particularly American English, as becoming more homogeneous over time (usually attributed to the prevalence of national-level media), but in fact, the fastest vowel shift in the history of the English language is currently underway. It’s called the Northern Cities Shift, and is taking place from Chicago to upstate New York.” -HungryLikeTheWolf99

“The pronunciation of short vowels have shifted from their common sound, for example short o is now pronounced as short a, so the word block sounds more like black. It is happening around the great lakes and linguists aren’t sure why it has happened.” -maryxchristmas

“This short video shows people who demonstrate the accent but were filmed for other reasons (i.e. they were not trying to accentuate the Northern Cities Vowel Shift).”

“Edit: I wanted to add this video as well. It does a good job of actually explaining the phenomenon.” -Cat_Man_Dew

German Elements Can Be A Bit Strange

“Sauerstoffe, the German word for oxygen, literally translates to ‘sour material’.” -PersonWhoExists50306

“This isn’t the only weird element name in German.”

“Hydrogen = Wasserstoff = ‘Water stuff’”

“Nitrogen = Stickstoff = ‘Choke stuff’”

“Carbon = Kohlenstoff = ‘Coal stuff’” -GeneralDarian

“‘Oxygen’ means acid forming. Acids taste sour.” –GozerDGozerian

Not All Medical Terms Are Latin

“Many people think that the medical names for organs of the body are derived from Latin, but only the muscles and bones are. For example, ‘gluteus maximus’ is Latin for biggest muscle. But, ‘pulmonary’ is derived from the Greek, since it is not a muscle (i.e. pertaining to the lungs).” -Ex_Nihil

Fruity Confusion

“In French, grape is ‘raisin’ and raisin is ‘raisin sec’ (which roughly translates to ‘dry grape’).”

“F**ked me up as a child.” -_aft3rlif3_

“My parents always interchanged French and English, but would only use raisin for the dry type and I never knew if I was getting grapes or raisins.” -notyetcommitteds2

ASL Is Quite Complex

“American Sign Language (ASL) is one of many signed languages around the world and has very little relation to the English language.”

“Also, when confronted with a proper noun, name or a concept that needs to be clarified because of the lack of a sign, we use fingerspelling. While you might think this is like speaking the letters of a name, signers spell so quickly that you aren’t supposed to catch every letter, just notice the general shape of the word as it’s spelled.”

“Some signs for ‘bank”dog’ and ‘what’ are fingerspelled so hurriedly that you omit a letter or two, leaving a quick motion in place of what would have been B-A-N-K.”

“Fingerspelling in general is bananas. Watch a Deaf person spell their own name (especially something long like Josephine) and you’ll see what I mean. It’s probably the toughest part of the language to learn since it’s nearly all intuitive.” -ICantHearYoo

Why Pineapple?

“Pineapple is some variation of ‘ananas’ in most languages…except English” -yeEEeEeeEeee3eeeeEet

“In Mexican Spanish, pineapple is piña, while in most other varieties it’s anana” -ThePeasantKingM

“It’s ananas in Kannada, a smaller language of a state of India. So weird, considering I doubt that there is any shared roots with other languages.” -Redditor

“Its ananas in Marathi too. I think it is that for PIE [Proto-Indo-European] root languages. Kannada isn’t one but maybe interacting with Sanskrit and other Indo-Aryan language probably gave it ananas.” -AdiSoldier245

Arabeezy

“When people type Arabic using Latin letters, they substitute some numbers for letters because they look similar. It’s commonly called “Arabeezy” as a portmanteau of the Arabic word for English, Engleezy, and Arabic. Examples include ew3adni, 2ool, 7abibi, 3li, 6arab. So sometimes you’ll see sentences like, ‘Eh a5bar sho3’lak?’ and wonder if their cat jumped on their keyboard.” -H0use0fpwncakes

“Been learning Arabic for two years and I had no idea the numbers were chosen because they looked like the letter, I just thought it was because English had no equivalent for that Arabic letter so we used numbers. This makes much more sense haha” -laika_pushinka

Don’t Interrupt

“You can’t really interrupt someone who use a language that places the verb at the end of the sentence because you won’t understand what he wants unless he’s finished” -OmarAdelX

“I mean to a certain extent. Japanese is that type of language but some sentences are even made not to be finished.. You don’t need the verb always.” -elrulestheworld

“Sure you can…if you know what they are going to say (context). Source – speak Japanese. People interrupt all the time.” -bless_your-heart-

“I’ve always wondered how translators work with this?”

“Like in German, for example, where you place the verb at the end.”

“For example, ‘I want to run quickly through the green grass.’ is ‘Ich möchte schnell durch das grüne Gras rennen.’”

“If someone was translating that it would seem like they’d hear ‘I want to quickly through the green grass run,’ so how do they know it’s going to be run?” -liamemsa

“Interpreter here, though in Spanish not German, but Spanish works the same way where I have to untangle the sentence to get it to make sense in English. When a client is talking, I usually wait for them to finish the thought before rendering it in the other language. This is called consecutive interpreting, one person talks, stops, and lets me do my thing. The other form, simultaneous, is when one person talks and once I can’t remember any more I start talking too, taking in info while I’m actively interpreting. Most of us don’t work in this mode often, unless you’re interpreting a conference or something. Most interpreter’s working memory is 4 ish sentences, so we know what you said and we just flip it around as we go. We also take notes depending on the type of session. It takes practice and a very high degree of fluency, but I honestly don’t think about the grammar much anymore. I’m trying to find the vocabulary that will get the message across best or remember a medical term.” -GrayGhoast

Language is even more fascinating than a lot of people think. Even if you take your native language for granted, there are probably a whole lot of really cool things you don’t know about it yet.

October 13, 2021

People Share Their Favorite ‘How The Hell Did They Discover That?’ Facts

Humanity, for all its faults, is pretty amazing. We’ve learned a lot of really cool things in our time on this planet.

But how did we learn some of it?

Like… who thought it’d be a good idea to prepare a venomous or otherwise dangerous creature for consumption? Didn’t the thought of some rather deadly trial and error frighten them away?

The answer to that is “nope,” in case you’re wondering, and we are referring to fugu, a dish prepared from a pufferfish that can be lethal for human consumption and can also sting when its spines enter the skin.

Fugu’s tetrodotoxin can be so lethal, in fact, it must be carefully prepared to remove the toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat.

The Japanese and other countries have strictly regulated fugu’s preparation, just in case you’re feeling adventurous.

But how did that first person grab the stinging, spiky fish blown up like a balloon and discover how to eat it without dropping dead?

Well, we don’t have an answer for that.

And what about other curious things human beings discovered?

Redditor Justoneaccount1234 asked the online community:

“What fact makes you think ‘What the f**k were they doing to discover that?’”

“She wasn’t too disgusted.”

“My mum was diagnosed with glaucoma a while back. She had to use eye drops which she said were derived from bull semen. She wasn’t too disgusted.”

“She was a nurse, she was just endlessly baffled with HOW anyone ever came up with that idea.”

“Like, you’d have to know a fair bit about semen to even think of its uses beyond the obvious one.”

“How do these people describe themselves on LinkedIn?” ~ SuzyJTH

“You know…”

“Hákarl.”

“You know, that shark that is usually poisonous unless you leave it to rot for months.” ~ ObscuraNox

“Chewing the nuts…”

“Coffee can be explained. Chewing the nuts gets you hyper, so someone distilled it.”

“Now black ivory coffee… that had to have been a prank, dare, or the most confusing chain of events for a bean farmer.”

“For those that don’t know, black ivory coffee is coffee made from beans passed through the digestive tract of elephants.”

“The enzymes in the elephant break down the protein in the bean, giving it a less bitter taste.” ~ chocki305

“I have an acquaintance…”

“I have an acquaintance who worked as a dog handler, showing purebred dogs in dog shows.”

“She swears that putting the tip of a wooden match into a dog’s anus is the preferred method for making the dog defecate before going into the show ring.”

“All I can think of is: Who was the drunk idiot that discovered that? How much alcohol was involved?”

“Why did they tell anybody what they’d done? (“Hey, you guys wanna see a trick? Here, Fido!”)” ~ NightmareGerbil

“Just to clarify…”

“I never understood why people started eating onions. I mean, I’m glad they did, but if I’m a caveman and try to eat a ‘food-like substance’ that if I break open makes me cry, I’m probably not ingesting it.”

“I mean, it doesn’t even want me to look at it and punished me for breaking it open. I don’t eat aggressive vegetables.”

“Just to clarify, I really love onions. I just wouldn’t have been the first one to try them.” ~ CanEyeBshy

“In the past two weeks…”

“Anything involving baking soda. In the past two weeks, I’ve used it to make banana bread and pretzels, as well as to disinfect a litter box and clean silver.” ~ _solarmax

“I mean, they figured out…”

“Toast. It had to be an accident, surely.”

“I mean, they figured out to grind the right grains, the right ratio of yeast and water and sugar, etc., and how to cook it to make beautiful beautiful bread.”

“I swear, it must have been an accident that someone was too close to a fire and because of, I dunno, poverty or ignorance, it got eaten and the nirvana that is toast was achieved.

“Who would ever think, ‘This bread is great, I’ll cook it again’?” ~ kiki73

“One presumes…”

“The ancient/medieval alchemists left a lot of records of the substances they studied.”

“They cataloged all the properties they observed for each one – including the taste. One presumes that for the data to be passed on, one had to record the taste test promptly.” ~ schleppenwolf

“The process to make it properly…”

“Chocolate. The process to make it properly is incredibly finicky and takes a long time from start to finish.”

“What’s more, it’s not like a lot of things mentioned here that were probably just the result of being desperately hungry.” ~ mechanate

“Maybe I don’t understand…”

“The complex chemical processes to make certain drugs.”

“Maybe I don’t understand chemistry well enough, but how would they have known the effect that certain drugs, like cocaine, would have on a person?”

“Or was it made for some other purpose and someone said, ‘Hey, this looks like a good thing to crush up so that I can snort it up through my nose.’”

“It just seems weird.” ~ goodietwoshoe

“For those who aren’t familiar…”

“Casu marzu.”

“For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a cheese made from sheep’s milk with live maggots in it.”

“It’s actually illegal under EU regulations but there is still black market production because apparently, people want to eat live maggots.” ~ adeon

“They were lucky…”

“When saccharine was first synthesized, the creators didn’t know it was going to be safe to consume.”

“And yet, against the most basic law of the chemistry lab (do not under any circumstances eat that thing you just created, everything can and WILL kill you), they decided that meh, a little bit couldn’t hurt.”

“They were lucky and it was sweet and safe, but seriously don’t eat the stuff you just made from tar – it literally didn’t exist an hour before.” ~ coelicolored

The funny thing about a lot of these responses, at least to me, is the number of people who rest on the assumption that starvation wasn’t a common way to die for many millennia.

You’d be surprised what human beings will eat—and certainly figure out is okay to eat—when they are hungry and there is no other option.

I suppose we should thank them for their discoveries.

Oh, and while we’re at it, be even more thankful we didn’t have to be the ones to do all of these experiments.

July 24, 2021

People Shared Their Ode to Cool Libraries

Libraries are amazing, and they rarely get the credit they deserve.

My library for sure got me through the pandemic with a steady supply of ebooks.

They do so much for the most under-served areas of our communities every day.

So it was great to see Buzzfeed do a roundup of Reddit posts from the r/mildlyinteresting subreddit, entirely dedicated to library awesome-sauce!

Here are 18 of the most exciting things going on in libraries these days.

1. Cone of Silence

Keeping people quiet has always been an uphill battle for librarians, especially in a world of group projects and shared technology.

Cell phones just add to the trouble because people don’t always police their own etiquette and when you can be reached anywhere, you WILL be reached anywhere.

Now you can take your calls in private!

My local library has vault you can go into to talk on your phone. from mildlyinteresting

2. Self Monitoring

Like I said – group projects.

Sometimes it’s necessary to talk in the library.

And that’s okay, just don’t be screaming about it.

For those who need a little help with keeping an eye on their volume, technology can help!

Click on the image to see the full effect!

My school’s library has noise-level guides that change colour when it gets too loud from mildlyinteresting

3. Secret Complaint Line

Neighbor’s not monitoring their own volume?

Loud cell phone conversations interrupting your flow?

You don’t have to handle it yourself, and this library doesn’t expect you too.

This sign at my University with the number for the library police. from mildlyinteresting

4. When All Else Fails

Grab a pair of ear plugs while you wait for the librarian to sort the loudmouths out.

My library gives out earplugs on the silent floor from mildlyinteresting

5. Stools For All

Libraries are more than just a quiet place to work in solitude these days.

Now, instead of having to find a workroom with enough space for your group, you can just pull up a chair from anywhere.

Take one literally right off the wall!

My university library has a wall where you can quite literally take a seat from mildlyinteresting

6. Try It Before You Buy It

Or maybe you are working alone, but you need to be moving around.

Well now you can!

I have always wanted to try a standing desk or a treadmill desk, but I couldn’t quite commit.

Being able to do this once in awhile, throughout a long writing day, would be amazing.

Basement floor of my campus library has a treadmill with a computer, so you can exercise & study at the same time. from mildlyinteresting

7. Up-Cycle Aesthetics

When you’re tired of working and walking, this library invites you to put your feet up–on old discarded books!

Had a volunteer help me make these stools out of our discarded books for new library seating. from mildlyinteresting

8. Bee-Hive Yourself

If you need a break from working, mosey on down to the children’s section and check out this incredible living bee exhibit!

My local library has bee hive in the kids section, with a tube that leads to the outside. from mildlyinteresting

9. Bottoms Up

Libraries are changing, but they still have a great selection of books to check out.

They’re also finding unique ways to get books into the hands of eager readers.

Like turning the books on the lower shelves so that you can read the spines without doing squats.

The library places the books on the lower shelves on their sides so the titles are easier to read. from mildlyinteresting

10. Don’t @ Me

Librarians are also the best at coming up with clever book display ideas.

All to help books find readers, and readers find books.

When libraries troll their patrons. from pics

11. Spy On Your Neighbors

What better way to find your next big read than to check out what other people are reading too?

Word of mouth always was the best way to find the next great thing.

Library has "Recently Returned" section so you can see what other people have been reading from mildlyinteresting

12. LibGuides to Tough Topics

They’re sensitive to the fact that sometimes you need a book you don’t want to ask for, and not everyone knows how to use the catalog to find it on their own.

This library has a directory for topics people might be embarrassed to ask for. from mildlyinteresting

13. Surprise Me

For when you just don’t know what you WANT, but you know what you LIKE.

Because sometimes you don’t have the time or brain space to decide.

Let a librarian do it for you.

At my library you can pick up bags of books in a certain genre without knowing what those books are from mildlyinteresting

14. Marathon Movie Night

Sometimes you want to have a marathon, but you can’t get all the things.

Well now you can.

This library has grouped them together into marathon kits so you can binge to your heart’s content.

My library loans out themed "Binge Boxes" from mildlyinteresting

15. Book 1A Please

Available 24-7, book vending machines really are a thing now.

They’re quick, easy, convenient, and freaking brilliant!

This train station has a library book vending machine from mildlyinteresting

16. Rolling Library

If you thought the book vending machine was cool, check this out.

Libraries have always been great about meeting people where they are.

Remember book mobiles?

Well now there are libraries built into actual subway trains! BECAUSE WHY NOT?

This subway car in Seoul has a mini library from mildlyinteresting

17. Not Only Books

I’ve heard of libraries that will let you check out art prints to hang on your wall.

Well this library has figured out a cool niche.

After all, how many times is your kid going to want the Darth Vader birthday cake?

At this library in Philadelphia you can rent cake pans from mildlyinteresting

18. It All Adds Up

The value of libraries is continually debated and called into question.

You can’t put a number on many of the services, like story time for the kids and reading groups and meeting spaces and community events.

But some libraries are fighting back, finding ways to remind us just how much they are worth, when it IS quantifiable.

Amazing!

My library receipt shows how much money I’ve saved. from mildlyinteresting

I love these posts, and I think maybe “cool library things” need a dedicated subreddit all their own.

Everyone has a library story. Share yours in the comments!

The post People Shared Their Ode to Cool Libraries appeared first on UberFacts.

July 24, 2021

People Shared Their Ode to Cool Libraries

Libraries are amazing, and they rarely get the credit they deserve.

My library for sure got me through the pandemic with a steady supply of ebooks.

They do so much for the most under-served areas of our communities every day.

So it was great to see Buzzfeed do a roundup of Reddit posts from the r/mildlyinteresting subreddit, entirely dedicated to library awesome-sauce!

Here are 18 of the most exciting things going on in libraries these days.

1. Cone of Silence

Keeping people quiet has always been an uphill battle for librarians, especially in a world of group projects and shared technology.

Cell phones just add to the trouble because people don’t always police their own etiquette and when you can be reached anywhere, you WILL be reached anywhere.

Now you can take your calls in private!

My local library has vault you can go into to talk on your phone. from mildlyinteresting

2. Self Monitoring

Like I said – group projects.

Sometimes it’s necessary to talk in the library.

And that’s okay, just don’t be screaming about it.

For those who need a little help with keeping an eye on their volume, technology can help!

Click on the image to see the full effect!

My school’s library has noise-level guides that change colour when it gets too loud from mildlyinteresting

3. Secret Complaint Line

Neighbor’s not monitoring their own volume?

Loud cell phone conversations interrupting your flow?

You don’t have to handle it yourself, and this library doesn’t expect you too.

This sign at my University with the number for the library police. from mildlyinteresting

4. When All Else Fails

Grab a pair of ear plugs while you wait for the librarian to sort the loudmouths out.

My library gives out earplugs on the silent floor from mildlyinteresting

5. Stools For All

Libraries are more than just a quiet place to work in solitude these days.

Now, instead of having to find a workroom with enough space for your group, you can just pull up a chair from anywhere.

Take one literally right off the wall!

My university library has a wall where you can quite literally take a seat from mildlyinteresting

6. Try It Before You Buy It

Or maybe you are working alone, but you need to be moving around.

Well now you can!

I have always wanted to try a standing desk or a treadmill desk, but I couldn’t quite commit.

Being able to do this once in awhile, throughout a long writing day, would be amazing.

Basement floor of my campus library has a treadmill with a computer, so you can exercise & study at the same time. from mildlyinteresting

7. Up-Cycle Aesthetics

When you’re tired of working and walking, this library invites you to put your feet up–on old discarded books!

Had a volunteer help me make these stools out of our discarded books for new library seating. from mildlyinteresting

8. Bee-Hive Yourself

If you need a break from working, mosey on down to the children’s section and check out this incredible living bee exhibit!

My local library has bee hive in the kids section, with a tube that leads to the outside. from mildlyinteresting

9. Bottoms Up

Libraries are changing, but they still have a great selection of books to check out.

They’re also finding unique ways to get books into the hands of eager readers.

Like turning the books on the lower shelves so that you can read the spines without doing squats.

The library places the books on the lower shelves on their sides so the titles are easier to read. from mildlyinteresting

10. Don’t @ Me

Librarians are also the best at coming up with clever book display ideas.

All to help books find readers, and readers find books.

When libraries troll their patrons. from pics

11. Spy On Your Neighbors

What better way to find your next big read than to check out what other people are reading too?

Word of mouth always was the best way to find the next great thing.

Library has "Recently Returned" section so you can see what other people have been reading from mildlyinteresting

12. LibGuides to Tough Topics

They’re sensitive to the fact that sometimes you need a book you don’t want to ask for, and not everyone knows how to use the catalog to find it on their own.

This library has a directory for topics people might be embarrassed to ask for. from mildlyinteresting

13. Surprise Me

For when you just don’t know what you WANT, but you know what you LIKE.

Because sometimes you don’t have the time or brain space to decide.

Let a librarian do it for you.

At my library you can pick up bags of books in a certain genre without knowing what those books are from mildlyinteresting

14. Marathon Movie Night

Sometimes you want to have a marathon, but you can’t get all the things.

Well now you can.

This library has grouped them together into marathon kits so you can binge to your heart’s content.

My library loans out themed "Binge Boxes" from mildlyinteresting

15. Book 1A Please

Available 24-7, book vending machines really are a thing now.

They’re quick, easy, convenient, and freaking brilliant!

This train station has a library book vending machine from mildlyinteresting

16. Rolling Library

If you thought the book vending machine was cool, check this out.

Libraries have always been great about meeting people where they are.

Remember book mobiles?

Well now there are libraries built into actual subway trains! BECAUSE WHY NOT?

This subway car in Seoul has a mini library from mildlyinteresting

17. Not Only Books

I’ve heard of libraries that will let you check out art prints to hang on your wall.

Well this library has figured out a cool niche.

After all, how many times is your kid going to want the Darth Vader birthday cake?

At this library in Philadelphia you can rent cake pans from mildlyinteresting

18. It All Adds Up

The value of libraries is continually debated and called into question.

You can’t put a number on many of the services, like story time for the kids and reading groups and meeting spaces and community events.

But some libraries are fighting back, finding ways to remind us just how much they are worth, when it IS quantifiable.

Amazing!

My library receipt shows how much money I’ve saved. from mildlyinteresting

I love these posts, and I think maybe “cool library things” need a dedicated subreddit all their own.

Everyone has a library story. Share yours in the comments!

The post People Shared Their Ode to Cool Libraries appeared first on UberFacts.

January 25, 2021

Enjoy These Fascinating Examples of Old Technology That Look Pretty Strange Today

We like to think that the age we’re living in is highly advanced and that the people who came before us we’re simpletons, but we have a feeling the photos you’re about to see will completely change your mind about that.

Because you’re about to lay your eyes on amazing examples of OLD technology that was way ahead of its time and is honestly still pretty impressive today.

Are you ready to go back to the future? Let’s go!

1. I’ve never one of these before!

But I like it!

300 year old library tool that enabled a researcher to have seven books open at once, yet conveniently nearby (Palafoxiana Library, Puebla) from interestingasfuck

2. Wow. Pretty impressive.

And I’m willing to bet this is extremely rare.

350 year old pocket watch carved from a single Colombian emerald from interestingasfuck

3. That is so cool.

But I bet that poor officer got tired of sucking in fumes all day.

In 1955, this tiny electric narrow gauge train was installed in New York’s Holland tunnel to monitor traffic speed. from interestingasfuck

4. This is kind of crazy.

But also pretty brilliant.

A British couple sleeps inside a "Morrison shelter” used as protection from collapsing homes during the WWII ‘Blitz’ bombing raids… March 1941 – [1280 × 965] from HistoryPorn

5. The forerunner to the Roomba.

I wonder if it was ever popular…

Robo-Vac, a self-proppeled vacuum cleaner part of Whirlpool’s Miracle Kitchen of the Future, a display at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, 1959.[1600×2116] from HistoryPorn

6. Wow! Get a load of this thing!

That is awesome!

This car is a French ‘Delahaye 175S Roadster’, introduced at the Paris Motor Show in 1949. Only one was ever made. It was recently sold at auction for around five million dollars. from interestingasfuck

7. I bet you sank all the way to the bottom.

Looks pretty heavy, doesn’t it?

The world’s oldest surviving diving suit: The Old Gentleman, from 1860. from interestingasfuck

8. That is one HUGE cell phone.

Zack Morris style!

Motorola Vice President John F. Mitchell showing off the DynaTAC portable radio telephone in New York City in 1973 [495×622] from HistoryPorn

9. Not too easy to lug around.

But it got the job done.

Kodak K-24 camera, used for aerial photography during WW2 by the Americans from Damnthatsinteresting

10. A rail zeppelin.

German engineering at its finest.

A rail zeppelin and a steam train near the railway platform. Berlin, Germany, 1931 (more info in comment) from interestingasfuck

11. I wish this would make a comeback!

I’m all about this!

Motorized roller-skate salesman in California, 1961 [1600×1666] from HistoryPorn

12. You don’t see something like this every day.

Time to hit the open road.

Jay Ohrberg’s ‘double wide’ limousine. Built by the man who also created the ‘american dream’ superlimo from WeirdWheels

13. I think a lot of us could use this right about now.

I need my alone time!

The ‘Isolator’ , by Hugo Gernsback: a helmet for insulating the senses against distraction; from the journal Science and Invention, vol. 13, no. 3, July 1925 [850×717]. from HistoryPorn

Those are so cool!

And now we want to hear from you.

In the comments, share some more photos of old technology that you think we’ll enjoy.

Thanks in advance!

The post Enjoy These Fascinating Examples of Old Technology That Look Pretty Strange Today appeared first on UberFacts.

December 1, 2020

People Share Their Opinions About What Never Stopped Being Cool

Some things are cool and they always have been.

Bruce Springsteen. The Ramones. Martin Scorsese. Converse All-Stars. Also a whole lot of little things in life, too!

It’s just the way it is!

So let’s learn about some more eternally cool stuff.

AskReddit users talked about what was, is, and always shall be cool.

1. Nice and wholesome.

“Being the guy out of the group that waits for you when you have to stop and tie your shoe.

I LOVE that guy!”

2. Kindness.

“Being the type of person who is kind without trying to get recognized for it.

My whole family tries to be this way. As a kid, there were always strange people by the house……I asked my parents when I got a little older why they had a bunch of whacky friends.

They were nice to everyone unless you gave them a reason not to be. That lead to all the strangers and outcasts that were always dumped on by *ssholes feeling like they had a home and a friend.

I try to live by the same code because “normal” is nothing more than a setting on the dryer.”

3. That’s right.

“Sticking up for people in need.

I went to school with a mentally challenged girl from preschool through high school. She always said hi to me and I would ask her how she was, almost every single day.

One day in middle school she started walking across the street without looking and got hit by a car. She wasnt badly injured, just a few scrapes and bruises. Well a couple weeks after that she was trying to cross the street to get to school but the traffic was bad and she was scared to try to cross.

I had just parked my car and started walking to the school. I heard her yell my name from across the street and start waving. I yelled back and asked if she was ok. She asked if I would help her cross the street. I didn’t think anything of it and just kinda started walking across the street and stopped traffic.

I got to the side she was on and took her hand and I helped her across the street. She said thank you many times and we went about our day. I never thought it was a big deal but it must have been to her because throughout the rest of our school years she would randomly tell me thank you for helping her across the street.”

4. The best.

“Tony Hawk.

I’m not even into skateboarding and I think he’s cool.”

5. I agree.

“Finding money.

On the ground, in a pair of pants.

Doesn’t matter. Finding money is always cool.”

6. All ages.

“For me it’d be LEGO.

It sparks a joy in most/all people, no matter the age.”

7. Better with age.

“Bob Ross and Mister Rogers get cooler with age.

Both MUCH cooler now than when I was a kid.

They are never going to hit maximum coolness.

They’ll just keep expanding.”

8. Be gentle about it.

“A gentle but witty comeback.”

9. The good stuff.

“A cold beer after a long day of work.

Pizza and beer after helping someone move.

Makes an average beer, average pizza, taste Godly.”

10. Lookin’ sharp.

“Leather jackets.

I wouldn’t mind having one if I could pull it off.”

11. A classic look.

“Jeans, a white t-shirt and some black boots.”

12. Darn right!

“Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Dolly Parton.”

13. American icon.

“Converse will be cool until the end of time.

This is the hill I will die on.”

14. Skate or die!

“Skateboarding.

It’s still absolutely awesome to watch and super fun to practice.”

15. Pretty awesome.

“Electric guitar.

The Les Paul is like 60 years old and still cool.”

What do you think has never gone out of style and will always be cool?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Please and thank you!

The post People Share Their Opinions About What Never Stopped Being Cool appeared first on UberFacts.

June 19, 2020

People Talk About the Weirdest Things They’ve Ever Found in Old Houses

When I was growing up, there was an old abandoned farmhouse at the edge of our neighborhood that we used to explore when we went out for bike rides.

It was spooky and sometimes we’d find things left behind by people who had obviously been sleeping the old house because it was in a pretty secluded location: clothes, sheets, etc. Luckily, we never ran into anyone else there…

It’s always fun to find stuff that belonged to people in old houses, isn’t it? It’s a nice little connection to the past.

Let’s look at some cool stories from folks on AskReddit who made discoveries.

1. That’s really cool!

“When we moved into my new house, there was an outlet in the bathroom that just would not work. Eventually, my dad got around to changing it.

When he pulled the face plate off, he realized that there was no electrical wiring. Instead, there was a plastic box attached to the back. Inside was a note from the people who owned the house in the late 60’s, welcoming the new owners (not us) into the house.

There were a couple of stories, well wishing, and 20 dollars to buy something nice for the house.”

2. In London.

“I had a house in London It was quite old ,circa 1835. In the basement the plaster was cracking a falling off of the one wall. We had to remove it to treat it with a damp proof membrane. Removing the plaster to bare brick revealed a bricked up doorway. We opened it up to see what was behind it.

It was a small room with a rough wooden bed all rotted away only the frame remaining and a upright chair.with the back broken and a kind of tailors dummy stood on a unplained wooden frame.

Mildewed newspaper cuttings where on the chair, most to badly rotted away but the ones in the center could be read. They were ink pictures of women with names like. “Florrie Corrigan the Irish rose” and “Irene Atkins the Clapham nightingale” Some had their faces disfigured or slashed. Some had dripping wounds and cuts drawn on them. Most had a big furry vagina drawn on.

My wife was fairly freaked and had a hippie chap come and pray / chant in the room to remove bad spirits.

It was nowhere near Jack the rippers haunts BTW, Ealing. A very respectable area.”

3. All kinds of weird stuff.

“Prosthetic leg in a pair of sweatpants.

Japanese stainless steel handgun packed in styrofoam sitting on somebody’s arrest record.

Cement autopsy table.

A $35,000 bar setup with 20′ brass foot rail, hand carved wood and trim everywhere in a house where every other room was filled with adult sized human diapers. That room was spotless, every other room was a hazmat situation.”

4. Hahahaha.

“I found an old pair of mens underwear. We put them in my friends drawer as a joke. A few months went by and nobody heard a thing about it. Went and looked in the drawer, he had been washing and wearing them the whole time!

He still doesn’t know.”

5. Tombstone.

“When I was in high school, my friends and I got drunk and decided to go through this creepy old house that sat on some of my friend’s farmland.

So, we make our way through the place and end up in the basement. By this time, we were all huddled up in a straight line and scared shitless. We only had a single flash light, and we were all fixated on where it was shining.

As the light moved across the floor, it showed a tombstone of one of the people that used to live there. Not a word or scream. Everyone decided to run at the exact same time.”

6. Oh, Dad…

“My dad’s report card at my grandmothers house.

Straight F’s. I saved it until mine came where he would yell at me for getting a D. Showed him and he shut the fuck up.

Will never forget that.”

7. Hidden passage.

“I found a hidden passageway to the police station in a house I used to live in.

The house was built 100+ years ago (and when you look at historical pictures, it’s the first house in the area for some time) and was built for the warden of the penal institution.

He designed the place to be a maze, and when the police station was built, ~10 years after the house was, iirc, he drilled out a path between his basement and a room in the police station.

The idea was if someone came after him, he could run down that path and get to safety after losing the suspect in the home.

When we discovered it, it went all the way to an office in the old police station that has now become a retirement center. It became a big deal for a week or so, and then everyone forgot.

The retirement home later sealed in the path about a quarter of the way in and we obviously weren’t able to do anything beyond that.”

8. Very strange…

“I was rewiring a home in a historic district. There was pretty much everything the family didn’t want left there. The strangest thing was the hand crafted shrine to aliens that was in the basement that had to be removed by means of sledge hammer and wheelbarrow. This was because she hand sculpted everything and fired it in her own kiln.

She then used some kind of mortar to set it in place. The thing was maybe 4 feet tall and 7 feet long. It was stepped up the wall in 3 tiers made of gardening cinder blocks. There were at least 175 sculptures of aliens with glassy eyes cemented in place.

The story was that she set the house on fire to kill the aliens. The lady was nuts. They actually had the bomb squad remove 5 filing cabinets filled with ammunition. She was apparently getting ready for a war with them.

That really tops it. Old crazy lady built an alien shrine and died in an intentional house fire she started.”

9. Creepy…

“I was on a Habitat for Humanity crew about five years ago and we were in the beginning stages of remodeling a house.

We had to gut pretty much everything but the outside walls and the frame of the house, so everyone working on this particular house grabbed a crowbar or sledgehammer and started knocking down all the walls.

On my first swing, about half the wall just collapsed and in about a second I was ankle deep in used utility razor blades.

As we were cleaning up the pile of razor blades, we found a picture of a little girl.”

10. Holy shit!

“Not me but my uncle was helping a friend move into a old house that he just bought. Guys went up into the crawl space attic and found a box that contained a skeleton of a young girl that detectives said had been there for about 50 years or so.

“I don’t think the guy ever told his wife about it.

11. That’s awesome.

“I actually just toured a house today that was built in 1846, and in the basement was a copper engraving of the entire town, signed and dated as 8/12/1889.”

12. Bootlegging days.

“The house I grew up in was built around 1919. During renovation my dad found an old gun in the wall. I think he gave it away to a friend of his who was a collector.

He also found a baseball bat in another wall. We’re pretty sure the house was used for bootlegging during prohibition because there was a warning buzzer wired into a wine cellar under the back yard.

There was also a secret ‘back staircase’ that led out into the garden.”

13. Payday!

“I once knew a guy who would clean houses for the police, like crack houses and stuff.

He once found a blow up doll stuffed with cash. No joke.”

14. Secret room.

“An ex of mine lived in a pretty old house. Behind one of the bottom cupboards in their kitchen there was a tiny door, just big enough for an adult to crawl through on his or her belly.

Once you crawled through, you could stand up in the little enclosed room, maybe seven feet high and 5’x4′. There was writing and graffiti all over three of the walls, but on one wall, there was this large Elvis statue. It almost looked like a shrine.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if it was some Underground Railroad hiding place or something.”

15. In the attic.

“My family moved into a house far from the city that we purchased “as is” from a devout Jehovah’s witness who hoarded things from the mid fifties right up until we purchased it in the early 2000’s.

Some of the things we discovered in the attic were:

An urn filled with ashes. It appears to be Jainist because it has the backwards (original) swastika on the bottom. My father casually walked outside of the garage and dumped the ashes onto the grass. He said it was bad luck to keep someone else’s remains in the house. I still have the urn but couldn’t find the lid to it. I think I’ll live without it.

Reader’s Digests from the 1960’s with articles titled “I am Joe’s Liver” and “I am Joe’s Man-Gland”. Besides the obvious cultural references, there are also gems like “The Negro’s Bright Badge of Courage” and “Does NATO Have A Future?”

Boxes and boxes of Jehovah’s witness books, magazines and bibles. Those were subsequently burned in the rusty oil drums the house came with.

A stuffed (taxidermied?) baby alligator and an alligator purse with head attached.

An enema kit.

Almost every get-rich-quick scheme invented in 60’s through 80’s. Amway kits, real-estate with no money down books, etc.

Long story short – Don’t buy houses “as is” unless you’re ready to deal with massive mounds of garbage in and around the house, among other problems.”

16. WTF?

“I used to do maintenance for a mobile home park. (Trailer park) Primarily cleaning up empty rental properties and fixing them up, making them suitable to be rented out.

This was several years ago. One morning I was ordered to go clean up a property that a couple had been evicted from. Now usually these units are nasty and the people that got evicted fuck everything up and just make a hell of a mess.

Upon entering the said trailer there was an extremely foul odor. It wasn’t feces….animal smells/piss whatever. I couldn’t quite tell. It was winter time. My nose adjusted and basically got used to the smell. After a while I started to realize the smell would get very strong every 20/30 minutes…when the heater kicked on.

I proceeded to open every heat vent and look inside to see if the assholes left something in them. In the back bedroom (where it smelled the worst) I found a grocery bag. I jumped back in horror because it was covered in blood. I puked right there on the spot. I couldn’t bring myself to look to see what was exactly in the bag.

Cops where called by me. What did it turn out being? A penis.

I wish I had proof, but its been way too long.”

Whoa! Those are pretty cool!

How about you?

Have you ever found something really interesting in an old house?

If so, tell us all about in the comments!

The post People Talk About the Weirdest Things They’ve Ever Found in Old Houses appeared first on UberFacts.

May 1, 2020

People Share the Unique Things They Have in Their Homes

What’s the rarest thing you have in your house?

I’m talking about something you have in your home that most people definitely don’t have in theirs…

It could be worth a lot of money, or maybe it’s something that is priceless only to you.

AskReddit users opened up and talked about the rare items they own.

Enjoy!

1. He is missed.

“I got an autograph from Chef Anthony Bourdain.

His was just about the only celebrity death that had a real impact on me.”

2. Memories from my grandfather.

“I have a large storage container filled to the top with McDonald’s toys. Before my grandfather passed away he would go and get a coffee every morning and would get me a toy from there when he got a coffee.

I’ve kept them ever since. I can bring myself to part with them. I have full collections of the Monsters Inc toys, the Lilo and Stitch toys, Winnie the Pooh, Beanie Babies, etc. 90’s and early 2000’s toys. That man was a saint, and my hero.”

3. Talkin’ about money.

“An uncut currency sheet.

It is 50 1 dollar bills that were never cut when the came out of the US Mint.”

4. That is unique.

“8 different copies of the secret garden by Frances Burnett.

It is not my favorite book. I first recieved and read a copy of it when I was 9, so it is a very sentimental book for me.

I have so many copies because I enjoy collecting the more beautiful art styles that it gets published in. As a classic it gets republished very frequently so to prevent me from just buying way too many copies I re-read the book everytime I buy a new one.”

5. How did that happen?

“A balloon that was inflated a couple days before I was born. 17 years later and it has barely lost any air.”

6. Now, that’s old!

“An antique ship anchor from the year 1597.

Dredged up from The river Maas.

Its not a huge anchor from a full sized manowar or something. Those were the size of a house. I think this was from a fishing vessel or a small trade vessel for river trade here in the Netherlands.

Not found by me unfortunately but I bought it from the man who did. Found in the ’70s.

The date it was made is on the anchor. And the mark on it is a kind of “house mark” these marks were used by rich but not noble families, no cost of arms, to mark stuff that was theirs.

Around 60 kg but it’s a guess.

Height: 124 CM Width: 81 CM.”

7. That’s…different.

“A collection of human teeth stuck on a candle.”

8. A piece of history.

“A piece of the Berlin wall.

I have a chunk on my dresser. I got for my mom when we visited Germany last summer because she told me stories of when she lived there, touching the wall was a quick way to get shot. I wanted her to be able to touch the wall and not get shot, so I brought some wall home for her!”

9. Sounds like a classy dwelling.

“A neon sign that says Fuck.

And I’ve got a small version of the leg lamp from A Christmas Story.”

10. That’s rare, indeed.

“A have a custom made Harry Potter wand.

I worked on the Fantastic Beasts 2 film (part of the Harry Potter Universe) and was gifted it by the director and producer. It has my name on it too.”

11. Family heirloom.

“An opal ring that has been passed down in my family for generations.”

12. All kinds of stuff.

“I’ve probably got quite a few, I have a few rather large lumps of obsidian, an alligator’s head, some nearly 100 year old books too.

Two music boxes made to look like San Francisco cable cars, also got an Albert Einstein bobble head (like the ones from Night at the Museum 2).”

13. Gettin’ wild!

“My 80+ Hawaiian shirt collection.

Yea, I’m boring like that.”

14. Signed and all…

“I’ve got a book signed by Cornelius Vanderbilt. I bought it at a used book store for a dollar because it looked cool. Flipped through the first few pages and there it was! It is an inscription from him to his advisor, given as a gift.

Had it authenticated by a Vanderbilt expert (I lived near one of their mansions at the time, and there were several historical sites and museums there with people who knew more than I did)

So that was a fun find.”

15. House of horrors.

“The foot from a real human skeleton. Six human incisors. A mummified bobcat heart. An alligator skull. A muskdeer skull. A human shoulder blade.

A light-up, car-top “funeral” sign, like the one on Joe Bob Briggs fridge, a water buffalo skull, a Cthulhu glow in the dark bank.

I really, really like weird shit.”

16. I’d love to read those.

“Letters written by my great-great-grandfather to his wife in 1917, while he was POW in Russia as part of Austro-Hungarian army at the end of WWI.”

17. Snap into a Slim Jim!

“I have a Macho Man Randy Savage head that was used as a Slim Jim display down at work.

We got an extra one and I asked for it so now he just sits at my desk arms folded staring menacingly, holding pens in the part the Slim Jim would go.”