Category: Facts

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People Break Out Their Most Obscure Animal Facts

Everybody loves a good fun fact.

They’re worth their weight in gold when you find yourself at an intimidating team-builder or other ice breaker situation.

On top of that, if you can master the art of injecting them into conversation without sounding like a middle school science teacher, you can rely on them to turn a boring chat around at a party.

And of all the fun facts, the animal ones seem to pique our interest more than most others.

Those creatures all around continue to fascinate us with their mysterious behaviors—often genius—behaviors.

Apparently Redditor KnightsWhoSayKni was fresh out of those facts, so they asked a simple, yet compelling question:

“What’s your #1 obscure animal fact?”

People came locked and loaded with all sorts of weird truths.

One common area of intrigue was, of course, anatomy.

“The American bison is the only animal in which both lungs share a common cavity. In every other animal the lungs are separated. What this meant is that when shot by an arrow, both lungs would collapse and the buffalo would suffocate quickly.”

“(For other animals, being shot in the chest would only collapse one lung, and they would at least have a chance) That’s why such a large animal could be taken down with relatively small weapons.” — angmarsilar

“Sloth hands work opposite to ours. They have to exert energy to open their ‘fist’ and relax to close it. This is how they can hang from trees while they’re sleeping and not fall off.” — liripipe

“Ancient penguins could have been up to 7 feet tall.” — StarsandstampS

“Some squid have toroid shaped (donut) brains, and their esophagus (throat) passing through it. If they eat something too big they can get brain damage.” — horch13

“Bird poop is white because they don’t secrete ammonia in urea like we do when we pee so it comes out in one movement and as nearly pure ammonia. Why that stuff eats your car paint!” — dave-pumpkins

Plenty of people were fascinated by the mental tendencies of certain animals. 

“Fish have been seen using tools – deliberately hitting a clam with a rock to get it to open so they can eat it.”

“Some fish (eels and groupers) form hunting partnerships where they communicate across the species barrier with specific signals to put their individual strengths to work (the eels chase prey out of crevices to where the groupers are waiting in open water).”

“They also get fooled by illusions in the same way we do, meaning that their brains are processing and interpreting their environment in a similar way to us.”

“That’s technically three facts but I like fish.” — BoldlyGone1

“There’s an insect called the scorpiofly that impresses mates by bringing them prey to eat. The bigger the meal, the better.”

“Only, some scorpionflies aren’t that great at catching food. So some of these males will imitate females, and wait for other males to bring them their gifts. Then they take the gift, fly away, and give it to an actual female.” — smiffypiffy

“On ostrich farms, some farmers have a hard time with breeding because the ostrich is more attracted to humans than other ostriches.”

“That’s right, somewhere out there an ostrich wants to fu** you.” — cleancutPunk

“Dogs may make social judgements about people based on how those people treat their owners. A study out of Japan had dog owners asking two people for help opening a container. There were three possible outcomes.”

A person reacting negatively by refusing and turning away, a person remaining neutral and a person helping. The dogs were then offered food from the people the owner had approached for help.”

“Dogs were much much less likely to accept food from the people who had refused to help their owners, and much more likely to accept food from those who had been neutral or who had helped.” — LogicalMess

Then came mention of those out-there behaviors. 

“Snapping/pistol shrimps and their colonies are so loud that they can interfere with sonar used by other animals and submarines.”

They also create tiny but incredibly powerful explosions implosions through the sheer force of their pincers closing ludicrously fast, which is cool.” — SolipsistAngel

“A green sea turtle can swim faster than Usain bolt can sprint. An animal out there with a house for a body can swim at speeds we don’t allow in playground zones 35MPH.” — rkhbusa

“Avocados were evolved to be eaten by the giant ground sloth. Imagine a sloth, but so massive it could only live on the ground. The flesh attracted the sloth and the very large seed was ‘designed’ to travel through their intestinal tract for re-seeding or whatever plants do.”

“Humans killed the sloth but loved the avo. We domesticated the avo to increase the yummy flesh. The pit has gotten smaller but is still very large. Whenever you eat an avo, think of the long extinct giant sloth.” — quokkafarts

“I’ve said this in my own thread but I’ll say it again.”

“Porcupines climb trees and come down backwards and use their tail to feel for the ground. Sometimes their tail will hit a branch and they will think it is the ground and so they will jump off and impale themselves.”

“Over time they evolved to have antibiotics in their quills so when they fall out of trees they don’t die.” — otterdragon

“Squirrels are responsible for thousands of new trees every year. They collect and bury their nuts all over the place so they’ll have food to last thru winter, but they forget about most of them.” — southwycke75344

And a few talked about what was myth and what was real. 

“Scientists thought the platypus was a joke until they send a dead one back to be studied.” — [deleted]

“People thought the okapi was a hoax until it was photographed. In parts of Sumatra it is believed that the orangutan can speak and refuses to do so because they don’t want to work.” — Victoresball

So there you have it.

Plenty of bizarre, fascinating, grotesque tidbits to keep you stocked for any lull in conversation.

Posted on

People Break Out Their Most Obscure Animal Facts

Everybody loves a good fun fact.

They’re worth their weight in gold when you find yourself at an intimidating team-builder or other ice breaker situation.

On top of that, if you can master the art of injecting them into conversation without sounding like a middle school science teacher, you can rely on them to turn a boring chat around at a party.

And of all the fun facts, the animal ones seem to pique our interest more than most others.

Those creatures all around continue to fascinate us with their mysterious behaviors—often genius—behaviors.

Apparently Redditor KnightsWhoSayKni was fresh out of those facts, so they asked a simple, yet compelling question:

“What’s your #1 obscure animal fact?”

People came locked and loaded with all sorts of weird truths.

One common area of intrigue was, of course, anatomy.

“The American bison is the only animal in which both lungs share a common cavity. In every other animal the lungs are separated. What this meant is that when shot by an arrow, both lungs would collapse and the buffalo would suffocate quickly.”

“(For other animals, being shot in the chest would only collapse one lung, and they would at least have a chance) That’s why such a large animal could be taken down with relatively small weapons.” — angmarsilar

“Sloth hands work opposite to ours. They have to exert energy to open their ‘fist’ and relax to close it. This is how they can hang from trees while they’re sleeping and not fall off.” — liripipe

“Ancient penguins could have been up to 7 feet tall.” — StarsandstampS

“Some squid have toroid shaped (donut) brains, and their esophagus (throat) passing through it. If they eat something too big they can get brain damage.” — horch13

“Bird poop is white because they don’t secrete ammonia in urea like we do when we pee so it comes out in one movement and as nearly pure ammonia. Why that stuff eats your car paint!” — dave-pumpkins

Plenty of people were fascinated by the mental tendencies of certain animals. 

“Fish have been seen using tools – deliberately hitting a clam with a rock to get it to open so they can eat it.”

“Some fish (eels and groupers) form hunting partnerships where they communicate across the species barrier with specific signals to put their individual strengths to work (the eels chase prey out of crevices to where the groupers are waiting in open water).”

“They also get fooled by illusions in the same way we do, meaning that their brains are processing and interpreting their environment in a similar way to us.”

“That’s technically three facts but I like fish.” — BoldlyGone1

“There’s an insect called the scorpiofly that impresses mates by bringing them prey to eat. The bigger the meal, the better.”

“Only, some scorpionflies aren’t that great at catching food. So some of these males will imitate females, and wait for other males to bring them their gifts. Then they take the gift, fly away, and give it to an actual female.” — smiffypiffy

“On ostrich farms, some farmers have a hard time with breeding because the ostrich is more attracted to humans than other ostriches.”

“That’s right, somewhere out there an ostrich wants to fu** you.” — cleancutPunk

“Dogs may make social judgements about people based on how those people treat their owners. A study out of Japan had dog owners asking two people for help opening a container. There were three possible outcomes.”

A person reacting negatively by refusing and turning away, a person remaining neutral and a person helping. The dogs were then offered food from the people the owner had approached for help.”

“Dogs were much much less likely to accept food from the people who had refused to help their owners, and much more likely to accept food from those who had been neutral or who had helped.” — LogicalMess

Then came mention of those out-there behaviors. 

“Snapping/pistol shrimps and their colonies are so loud that they can interfere with sonar used by other animals and submarines.”

They also create tiny but incredibly powerful explosions implosions through the sheer force of their pincers closing ludicrously fast, which is cool.” — SolipsistAngel

“A green sea turtle can swim faster than Usain bolt can sprint. An animal out there with a house for a body can swim at speeds we don’t allow in playground zones 35MPH.” — rkhbusa

“Avocados were evolved to be eaten by the giant ground sloth. Imagine a sloth, but so massive it could only live on the ground. The flesh attracted the sloth and the very large seed was ‘designed’ to travel through their intestinal tract for re-seeding or whatever plants do.”

“Humans killed the sloth but loved the avo. We domesticated the avo to increase the yummy flesh. The pit has gotten smaller but is still very large. Whenever you eat an avo, think of the long extinct giant sloth.” — quokkafarts

“I’ve said this in my own thread but I’ll say it again.”

“Porcupines climb trees and come down backwards and use their tail to feel for the ground. Sometimes their tail will hit a branch and they will think it is the ground and so they will jump off and impale themselves.”

“Over time they evolved to have antibiotics in their quills so when they fall out of trees they don’t die.” — otterdragon

“Squirrels are responsible for thousands of new trees every year. They collect and bury their nuts all over the place so they’ll have food to last thru winter, but they forget about most of them.” — southwycke75344

And a few talked about what was myth and what was real. 

“Scientists thought the platypus was a joke until they send a dead one back to be studied.” — [deleted]

“People thought the okapi was a hoax until it was photographed. In parts of Sumatra it is believed that the orangutan can speak and refuses to do so because they don’t want to work.” — Victoresball

So there you have it.

Plenty of bizarre, fascinating, grotesque tidbits to keep you stocked for any lull in conversation.

Posted on

People Break Out Their Most Obscure Animal Facts

Everybody loves a good fun fact.

They’re worth their weight in gold when you find yourself at an intimidating team-builder or other ice breaker situation.

On top of that, if you can master the art of injecting them into conversation without sounding like a middle school science teacher, you can rely on them to turn a boring chat around at a party.

And of all the fun facts, the animal ones seem to pique our interest more than most others.

Those creatures all around continue to fascinate us with their mysterious behaviors—often genius—behaviors.

Apparently Redditor KnightsWhoSayKni was fresh out of those facts, so they asked a simple, yet compelling question:

“What’s your #1 obscure animal fact?”

People came locked and loaded with all sorts of weird truths.

One common area of intrigue was, of course, anatomy.

“The American bison is the only animal in which both lungs share a common cavity. In every other animal the lungs are separated. What this meant is that when shot by an arrow, both lungs would collapse and the buffalo would suffocate quickly.”

“(For other animals, being shot in the chest would only collapse one lung, and they would at least have a chance) That’s why such a large animal could be taken down with relatively small weapons.” — angmarsilar

“Sloth hands work opposite to ours. They have to exert energy to open their ‘fist’ and relax to close it. This is how they can hang from trees while they’re sleeping and not fall off.” — liripipe

“Ancient penguins could have been up to 7 feet tall.” — StarsandstampS

“Some squid have toroid shaped (donut) brains, and their esophagus (throat) passing through it. If they eat something too big they can get brain damage.” — horch13

“Bird poop is white because they don’t secrete ammonia in urea like we do when we pee so it comes out in one movement and as nearly pure ammonia. Why that stuff eats your car paint!” — dave-pumpkins

Plenty of people were fascinated by the mental tendencies of certain animals. 

“Fish have been seen using tools – deliberately hitting a clam with a rock to get it to open so they can eat it.”

“Some fish (eels and groupers) form hunting partnerships where they communicate across the species barrier with specific signals to put their individual strengths to work (the eels chase prey out of crevices to where the groupers are waiting in open water).”

“They also get fooled by illusions in the same way we do, meaning that their brains are processing and interpreting their environment in a similar way to us.”

“That’s technically three facts but I like fish.” — BoldlyGone1

“There’s an insect called the scorpiofly that impresses mates by bringing them prey to eat. The bigger the meal, the better.”

“Only, some scorpionflies aren’t that great at catching food. So some of these males will imitate females, and wait for other males to bring them their gifts. Then they take the gift, fly away, and give it to an actual female.” — smiffypiffy

“On ostrich farms, some farmers have a hard time with breeding because the ostrich is more attracted to humans than other ostriches.”

“That’s right, somewhere out there an ostrich wants to fu** you.” — cleancutPunk

“Dogs may make social judgements about people based on how those people treat their owners. A study out of Japan had dog owners asking two people for help opening a container. There were three possible outcomes.”

A person reacting negatively by refusing and turning away, a person remaining neutral and a person helping. The dogs were then offered food from the people the owner had approached for help.”

“Dogs were much much less likely to accept food from the people who had refused to help their owners, and much more likely to accept food from those who had been neutral or who had helped.” — LogicalMess

Then came mention of those out-there behaviors. 

“Snapping/pistol shrimps and their colonies are so loud that they can interfere with sonar used by other animals and submarines.”

They also create tiny but incredibly powerful explosions implosions through the sheer force of their pincers closing ludicrously fast, which is cool.” — SolipsistAngel

“A green sea turtle can swim faster than Usain bolt can sprint. An animal out there with a house for a body can swim at speeds we don’t allow in playground zones 35MPH.” — rkhbusa

“Avocados were evolved to be eaten by the giant ground sloth. Imagine a sloth, but so massive it could only live on the ground. The flesh attracted the sloth and the very large seed was ‘designed’ to travel through their intestinal tract for re-seeding or whatever plants do.”

“Humans killed the sloth but loved the avo. We domesticated the avo to increase the yummy flesh. The pit has gotten smaller but is still very large. Whenever you eat an avo, think of the long extinct giant sloth.” — quokkafarts

“I’ve said this in my own thread but I’ll say it again.”

“Porcupines climb trees and come down backwards and use their tail to feel for the ground. Sometimes their tail will hit a branch and they will think it is the ground and so they will jump off and impale themselves.”

“Over time they evolved to have antibiotics in their quills so when they fall out of trees they don’t die.” — otterdragon

“Squirrels are responsible for thousands of new trees every year. They collect and bury their nuts all over the place so they’ll have food to last thru winter, but they forget about most of them.” — southwycke75344

And a few talked about what was myth and what was real. 

“Scientists thought the platypus was a joke until they send a dead one back to be studied.” — [deleted]

“People thought the okapi was a hoax until it was photographed. In parts of Sumatra it is believed that the orangutan can speak and refuses to do so because they don’t want to work.” — Victoresball

So there you have it.

Plenty of bizarre, fascinating, grotesque tidbits to keep you stocked for any lull in conversation.

Posted on

People Share The Absolute Weirdest Facts They Know

In our primary school years, many of us took great pride in the weirdest, most fun facts we could spout out to our friends and family members on command.

Some of us, though, never lost that passion and continued collecting factoids about the world around us.

Redditor lovedump44 asked: 

“Reddit, what is the weirdest FACT you know?”

Some talked about the state of Maine.

“Maine is the closest U.S. state to Africa.” – Donald_Keyman

“[Maine] is also the only state with one syllable in its name.” – BatskyStarman

The state of Ohio had something going for it, too.

“Ohio is the only state to not share a letter with the word ‘mackerel.’” – hunter07100

There was quite the unexpected fact about sea cucumbers.

“I know that sea cucumbers, to protect themselves from enemies, will hurl their own internal organs at anything threatening them.”

“Pretty wild, I think, but it doesn’t hurt the critter none. The sea cucumber can regrow whatever organs he lost with ease.” – aintyourma

Penguins have an unexpected skill, too.

“Penguins have a gland above their noses that removes salt from seawater.” – Servb0t

Some Redditors loved sharing facts about otters.

“Otters have a secret pocket where they carry their favorite rock.” – theoldraven

“[Otters] also hold hands when they sleep.” – jellyshoes11

“[Otters hold hands]…so they don’t drift apart. We can’t forget the adorable reason!” – biospark02

LEGO was represented on a technicality. 

“LEGO is the world’s largest producer of tires.” – UncensoredChef

This inspired a piece of trivia from the first LEGO Movie.

“In the LEGO Movie, they put fingerprints and scratches on pieces to make the legos looked like they were well played with.” – hannakah_ham

Speaking of yellow characters, Pac-Man was also mentioned.

“If you put your finger in your ear and scratch, it sounds just like Pac-Man.” – Donald_Keyman

And while we’re on the subject of scratching…

“Bonus Fact: If your throat is itching, you can make it stop by scratching your ear.” – Rywell

Some startling timeline facts had to be shared, too.

“Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the iPhone than she did to the building of the Great Pyramid.” – Donald_Keyman

“More time has passed between 9/11 and today, than 9/11 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.” – chicochic

“The Tyrannosaurus Rex was more likely to have gone to a Miley Cyrus concert than to have ever fought against a Stegosaurus (chronologically).” – Baldybeardy

Two Redditors enjoyed thinking of how we’re all connected.

“Astronomer here! If you look at the large-scale structure of the universe, it looks an awful lot like a brain cell.”

“I always thought that was really weird, but also a neat coincidence.” – Andromeda321

“We are more empty space than we are solid matter.” – its_the_peanutiest

Three Redditors considered how fantastically small some things are.

“There are more stars in space than there are grains of sand on every beach in the world…” – hotbuk**ke

“Russia has a larger surface area than Pluto.” – Swaily_P

“You can fit 3 Jupiters in the space between the Earth and our Moon.” – Question_4_you_guys

Two Redditors mentioned some surprising finds.

“A tomato plant was found on a 40-year-old volcanic island by the name of Surtsey. Scientists were baffled about how it got there.”

“Turns out a scientist took a dump which contained tomato seeds, and the plant grew.” – speeds_03

“Antarctica has two ATM machines. However, only 1 of them is working…” – Nebih

Three Redditors couldn’t choose just one factoid to share.

“Here are some interesting and odd facts:”

“Mammoths went extinct over 1000 years after the building of the great pyramid in Egypt.”

“A strawberry isn’t a berry, but an avocado is.”

“The can opener was invented 50 years after the can. They used bayonets or smashed them open with rocks in the intervening time. The rotating can opener that we’re familiar with took over 100 years to finalize.”

“The spikes on a stegosaurus’ tail are known by paleontologists as the thagomizer, which is a term coined by none other than Gary Larson in the Far Side cartoons.” – techniforus

“The world’s deepest postbox is in Susami Bay in Japan. It’s 10 meters underwater.”

“Light doesn’t necessarily travel at the speed of light. The slowest we’ve ever recorded light moving at is 38 mph (miles per hour).”

“In 1567, the man said to have the longest beard in the world died after he tripped over his beard while running away from a fire.”

“There are more fake flamingos in the world than real flamingos.”

“[Until 2016] the last time the Chicago Cubs won the baseball World Series, the Ottoman Empire still existed, and women did not have the right to vote in the United States.”

“John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States, has a grandson who’s still alive today.” – Donald_Keyman

“Abraham Lincoln created the Secret Service on the day he was fatally shot. At the time, it wasn’t charged with protecting the President, but still…”

“John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved Lincoln’s son’s life.”

“Furbies are banned from the NSA’s offices — as they may be spies. (They’re not really spies, but the NSA is being extra-careful.)”

“If your name is Richard Parker, stay the hell away from boats.”

“In March of 1951, both the US and UK were introduced to Dennis the Menace comics. But the two Dennis [characters] were totally different and their creators didn’t know about the other one across the Atlantic.”

“The US Civil War started on Wilmer McLean’s farm. He left the area shortly thereafter but couldn’t avoid the war, as it ended at the home he fled to.”

“The code names of the beaches used for the D-Day landings appeared in crossword puzzles before the campaign.”

“The people who make government pens will never see the words those pens write because all those people are blind.”

“Mountain Dew once admitted that mice would dissolve into a jelly-like substance in order to win a lawsuit.”

“There’s a massive, burning pit of natural gas aflame in Turkmenistan which has been burning since the early 1970s.”

“The US once considered nuking the moon, and Carl Sagan worked on the project.” – MrDNL

From facts about space to the strangest finds on Earth, combined with animal oddities and surprising timeline overlaps, these facts left many a fellow Redditor stunned, as well as wondering what other odd trivia they could uncover.

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People Break Down Factoids That Almost Feel Illegal To Know

The world is a place absolutely saturated with information.  Facts and knowledge surround each and every surface of your day-to-day life.

You need to know what temperature to cook your chicken.  You need to know how to get from your house to the post office.

You know so many things, and you don’t even know how many you know.

But then there are some things you are acutely aware of knowing—because you feel like you shouldn’t know them.  These are facts you found out by complete accident or by complete necessity and there’s almost no in‐between.

The only reason you know these kinds of facts is because they somehow snuck their way into your life.

So, when Redditor poisionivey3 asked:

“What’s a piece of information you know that feels illegal to know?”

Here were some of those little factoids that freaked people out.

Security Is A Joke

“Most conventional locks, like door locks from the hardware store or padlocks, are a joke. Hell you can take your house key and go door to door and eventually find aanother door that it’ll open.”

“What they’re counting on is that most people aren’t going to make the effort to acquire or make lock picking tools, then learn how to use them.”-frightenedhugger

“Really (before 1997/98 or so) old microsoft product keys relied on a REALLY simple validity check.”

“They were numbers in the form XXXX-YYYYYYY. The first 4 digits were specific to the software (I think Office 97 was 0402?) and fixed.”

“The last 7 .. the check was just that the sum of all digits has to be able to be divided by 7 without rest.”

“So 1111111 worked all the time. 1234567 worked all the time, 7777777 did.”-cerker

“If your local Walmart is closed overnight but there are employees working there, the doors probably aren’t locked and the self check registers are on.”

“There’s actually nothing keeping you from going in there, picking up a few items, using self checkout and walking out.”

“I work at Walmart overnight and this guy did that a couple nights ago. He didn’t speak English and when a manager noticed him they actually just escorted him to grab his items, check out and go.”-lenniemane

“A lot of military contract fleet vehicles use the same key for the entire fleet. Lowest bidders and all. And even then a lot of them are just keys to the door.”

“The actual ignition switch is just a knob on the dash.”

“Same vain fords crown victoria police interceptor variants all use the same key. It’s not even restricted you can buy them online.”-SkyAdministrative970

Stupid Life Hacks

“Back in the day, we used to go to this very popular night club, where people started lining up at 6pm. Met a guy inside partying one night wearing an orange construction vest.”

“He said he bypassed the entire line and they let him right in the door, because he was wearing that vest and carrying a clipboard. He told the bouncers he was the Fire Marshal.”-Rubyshooz

“A school trip in a downtown metro area for geography had us carrying clipboards around to mark off points on a map.”

“When we decided to eat, we found an Asian food restaurant. Walking in to this particular restaurant with a clipboard set them into panic mode.”

“So, we played along and went to inspect the kitchen, ran out fingers under the counter and made a few fake notes.”

“After a few minutes, my friend and I agreed they passed the inspection and we left the restaurant and found somewhere else to eat.”-Silken-red

“Car website company I used to work for (around 15 years ago) sold themselves as being the safest place to buy new and used cars”.

“Claiming they would check every car added to their website to make sure it wasn’t stolen or previously totalled.”

“Only problem is that they only carry out these tests every few months and the sales team actively inform their car dealership clients when this will happen, so they have the opportunity to take any stolen cars off the site first.”-CptBloodyObvious

Do Not Ingest

“There are plenty of toxic plants around, whether cultivated or wild. Poison hemlock, which is an invasive that grows in huge patches, is deadly if you consume just a few leaves.”

“Nightshades are pretty common as well, though the toxicity of different species varies greatly. Spurges, which are pretty common and inconspicious garden weeds, have sap that is severely irritating to the eyes, and can even potentially be blinding. Isn’t nature wonderful?”-AggravatingCrow

“That restaurants often do really disgusting things and have disgusting issues.”

“I used to waitress and then later manage a pizza place — mosquitos in the drain, nests of mice, stink bug infestations…”

“…Flies feasting on food that falls behind the appliances that isn’t cleaned up frequently like it’s supposed to be, mold in the soda machine, expired ingredients still being used, etc.”

“It’s just.. a lot. I was very, very surprised. I knew that most restaurants naturally deal with these things from time to time, but I didn’t expect it to be this often.”

“I also didn’t expect for management to be so nonchalant about going against inspections and regulations.”

“Other restaurants that friends of mine have managed/otherwise worked at have also had similar issues and it’s pretty wild.”

“I’ve never eaten at the restaurant that I worked at since quitting. I wouldn’t trust it.”-lemonlady7

The Sad Truth Of Our Daily Lives

“For any single instance of crime, the chance of getting caught and punished is exceedingly low.”

“It’s dependent on the crime, and easily influenced via various precautions like planning and proper target acquisition.”

“Only 40% of murders are solved and the majority of those which are are fairly obvious. 15% for assault and 10% for rape and sexual abuse.”

“Most of the folks caught for violent or sex crimes are committing crimes of passion (when emotions overwhelm all else) often involving family members (especially common for child abuse) so put little thought into concealing it, hence, they get caught.”

“The number one serial killer alive today has a high score of 300+ and is still at large. He targets prostitutes and the homeless and other folks that nobody important gives a fuck about.”

“For property crimes you have to be either stupid or frequent. closure rates for these are like 4% for mugging and 2% for burglary, and like 0.1% for white collar crimes like wage theft. The best crook in this game is your boss.”

“Drug crimes are like 0.01% if you count each individual instance. Half of you folks reading this comment have committed one.”

“Basically, corporate crime is easy and everyone does it, property crime is more difficult and less worth the effort, violent crime is especially bad risk-reward, and drug crime is just an excuse to violence brown people.”

“Basically, criminal justice is an oxymoron. It’s all a game of luck.”-Reagalan

“Area 51 soldiers have special orders compared to other military bases.”

“If were to drive your car or truck a hair to close to the limits of property, soldiers will detain you and they actually can shoot you right then and there if they decide you’re a threat.”

“Normally other soldiers would just let other authorities like the higher ups handle trespassers but Area 51 soldiers have the right to kill someone if they feel like it.”-KrookedCell

It’s a privilege to live and to know.

We as humans are afforded that privilege so readily we even sometimes wish we didn’t have it.

Learning can be a blessing or a curse.

Choose wisely which things you truly want to know the truth about because what is known can’t be unknown.

Posted on

People Share Little-Known Survival Tips That Could Save Your Life

In a perfect world, none of us would need to know or use any of the information we’re about to go over.

We don’t live in anything remotely close to a perfect world.

Tragedies happen, accidents occur, life gets heavy. In those moments, the thing that tips the scales might be something as seemingly unimportant as “that random factoid I read on the internet.”

Reddit user GlumExcitement9 asked: 

“People of Reddit, what is a surprisingly unknown survival fact that everyone should know?” 

So listen, we sincerely hope you never need this stuff.

We hope you never find yourself waiting to be rescued, facing down a person determined to hurt you, or falling off of a ship in the middle of the open ocean.

But just in case …

Whistle While You Wait

“Pack a whistle.”

“There’s no chance your voice will hold out yelling at the top of your lungs, and whistles carry long distances. Especially handy if you’ve injured yourself, and need to rely on others finding you.”

“SOS in Morse code is … – – – …”

“So three short blasts, three longer ones, three short, pause….and repeat.”

“This is an especially handy and harmless device to give kids that are along for a hike (along with, ‘if you get separated, stop walking and blow the whistle lots, and we’ll come to you’).” – Bubbafett33

Don’t Climb

“Contractor and someone who has designed quite a few subway and stations here.”

“Here’s something we’re taught during the first day of security clearance classes and this is how we design stations as a standard feature on every new platform being built. Older platforms may not have this or will have some other safety feature.”

“Having said that – many subway platforms have a space big enough for a person to fit under in case they fall onto the subways tracks.”

“So if you fall off the edge of the platform and onto the tracks and there’s a train coming, roll to the side. There’s likely a gap you can fit in.”

“It might be tight, and you’ll certainly get dirty, but better than standing up, scrambling to try and climb out, and dying.” – IndianInferno

“I work for NYCT. There are niches you can stand that are safe if you fall.”

“As long as there isn’t a red and white stripped board, you’re good.”

“Another fatal and idiotic piece of advice I hear a lot is to lie down flat between the running rails. This may work in a few stations and in specific spots in those stations but do not try this!”

“Just look along the wall for niches and flatten yourself against the wall in there. If there’s no wall then stand next to a column and hold onto it with one hand.”

“Then just try to stand flush with the column.” – CrankBar

Self Defense Is Cowardly

“My family runs self-defense classes. They include multiple black belts and lawyers.”

“In terms of ‘fights’ – bar brawls, people in the street, muggings, etc.:”

“- If they have a weapon, any weapon, run. Seriously, you will die, no matter how good you think you are or how many test-disarms you’ve done in a dojo.”

“Run like f*ck and be prepared to kill if cornered.”

“We’ve witnessed experienced black-belts hurt themselves with a real knife (after signing disclaimers!) so badly that they were hospitalized when they were JUST SPARRING, not fighting for real.”

“It’s just not worth it.”

“- If the fight is just ‘brewing’, repeatedly announce that you don’t want to fight them (attracts help, shows you’re not trying to one-up them, covers you legally, and doesn’t prepare them if you do fight).”

‘ Say things like ‘Nah, man, I don’t want to fight you. I don’t want to fight you. Look, I don’t want to fight you. Whatever, man, I don’t want to fight. I’m just gonna walk away, alright, I don’t wanna fight you’.” 

“- If it’s not immediately life-threatening and you can avoid it, try not to throw the first punch. Again, legal coverage, but also means you’re not the guy who gets into something they didn’t want to.”

“The first punch is the trigger for everything to kick off. Up until that point you can still defuse everything back to harsh words and idle threats.”

“Once a punch is thrown, someone’s getting really hurt and you literally have no idea if the other guy is more experienced or better at it that you. No matter who you are.”

“However, you can *react* to anything that appears to come towards you perfectly legitimately… if he’s “faking out” a punch, you have no idea of that but can act as if it was real.”

“- If you’re surprised, ‘attacked’, etc… without warning… it’s no holds barred.”

“Literally, who cares about his eyesight, his future fatherhood prospects, whether his kneecaps will ever work again or if he can breathe.”

“You can’t afford to end up on the floor, be incapacitated yourself, stunned, reeling, unconscious, for him to summon aid, or even just to fall to the ground awkwardly.”

“And YES, that guy could stab you and you wouldn’t know until after he walked away, things are really that quick!”

“Your brain doesn’t notice some subtle movements, your body won’t scream out in pain because of the adrenaline, and someone who knows what they’re doing will not attract attention to the weapon until it’s in you, etc…”

“You can’t take that risk.”

“Once it gets physical, don’t stop until you’re sure he’s not able to harm you, and then run away anyway for good measure (legal hint: report to the police at the first opportunity, don’t wait).”

“Once they have shown they have an intention to hurt you, and they’ve started to act on it – nothing is out of line.”

“And to quote the legal people in our clubs who were always asked the questions: If you feel your life is genuinely in danger, you can do almost anything to protect it until the point it’s no longer in danger. Worry about the legalities later.”

“But if your life is in danger, you would act to protect.”

“Going back in for another kick, or using a weapon when he’s already down and you could run, or anything else? Yeah, that’s not self-defense.”

“You’re not *defending* yourself by walking back into a fight you could have easily escaped.”

“Victims who ‘just tried to punch him once, but he punched back, so I shot him’ are also often harder to take seriously for self-defense than ‘he was three times my size, I was on my own, he attacked, I was in a struggle for my life at that point’.”

“That’s especially true if they were heard trying to stop the fight from happening, ran away immediately when they could, and called the police as they ran.”

“You can also act in defense of others, but again – you are defending. You’re giving them time to run away – wife, child, friend, whoever.”

“If there’s a threat, that’s what you’re giving them; the opportunity to escape the threat.”

“But there’s literally nothing wrong with breaking the guy’s knee as your first action (kick it so it goes sideways) – in fact, from a self-defense point of view, it’s perfectly legitimate. It’s a perfect way to prevent pursuit and allow you to escape.”

“Self-defense is cowardly, at its heart.”

“Do everything you can to capitulate, avoid the fight, etc… but if it escalates, take the quickest, most effective way to incapacitate them and then run away.”  – ledow

You Vs. The Ocean

“If you are ever caught in a rip current, swim perpendicular to it. If you swim into it, you will die.”

“If you let it carry you out to sea and aren’t a strong swimmer, you will die.” – [Reddit]

“I’ve been caught in a rip current. This advice is incredibly useful to know, because without it you’re also going to panic real hard when swimming towards the shore doesn’t work.” – homarjr

“I was caught in one, too, during my freshman year of college. I almost died.”

“I would have if it weren’t for my friend, who was a lifeguard, that was nearby. I tried the whole swimming parallel to the beach method, but what everyone conveniently forgets to mention is that you STILL have to swim back to shore.”

“This task is seriously exhausting. If you’re not VERY in shape, you’re pretty much f*cked if you’re caught in a rip current with no one out there to help rescue you.” – enginerd12

“Been a sailing merchant for 12 years. If you ever fall off a ship/ferry at sea and you’re lucky enough to be spotted – don’t try to swim your way to safety. The ocean will win.”

“The more you try to swim, the lesser your chances of survival. Just try to keep afloat and conserve energy (and body heat) while rescue team do what they’re supposed to.”

“Unless you are in hypothermic waters, the best bet always is to stay afloat without trying to swim to somewhere.” – trendz19

Snakebite Position

“Lead the pack if you’re scared of snakes. You’ll disturb them but the person behind you is more likely to get bitten.” – knittingtaco

“Mountain biker from southern Arizona here.”

“In the summer, we trail ride at night to avoid the heat. When on single track, whoever is behind the guy in front is in ‘snakebite’ position.”

“We’ve all at one time or another had to bunnyhop a rattlesnake” – tucsonyeti

The Star

“Elevator stuff: The STAR symbol on the elevator panel indicates the floor that is the most direct route to outside. It’s not always the first floor.” – AtopMountEmotion

Leave It To The Professionals

“Don’t f*ck with garage door springs.” – SpitefulShrimp

“Used to work on commercial and residential doors and openers. Seen a broken spring go through a cinderblock wall.”

“The main thing to look for are the red bolts.(assuming the door was installed correctly.) Those are the ones holding tension on the springs/lines.”

“Screw with something else you might break it. Screw with the reds they might break you.” – ThePrevailer

“THIS is what almost killed me!”

“I was trying to fix a gap in my garage door a couple of years ago and started to unscrew a couple of bolts with the door closed.”

“One of them flew right by my face. I almost pissed my pants and couldn’t sleep that night just thinking about how I almost won a Darwin award.” – Lapare

Sure, some of this is stuff we’re not really likely to use, but how many elevators have you been in.

Did you know what that star was for?

Had you even noticed it?

Exactly.

Posted on

People Divulge The Darkest Facts They Know About Cartoons

*The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.

Cartoons have a special place in our memories.

The tinkling sound of the cereal hitting the bowl. The calm of the house settling around us.

There is something brightly nostalgic about those memories, something almost too good to be true.

Of course, if something seems too good to be true…

Before we dive into the darkness, a content warning. There will be mentions of suicide, murder and domestic abuse.

Redditors heeded the siren call of nostalgia when Reddittor Amateurfatgeek22 asked:

“What are some dark facts about cartoon shows?”

That’s smurf’d up. 

“There was a Smurfs PSA that was made for UNICEF I believe where their entire village is carpet-bombed.”~Djangolives

Apparently, someone should’ve spent some time on Undercover Boss.

“Ren and Stimpy was an absolute nightmare for the people who worked on it. John K ordered them not to make the same face twice.”

“Pretty, but it was hell for the workers because they were constantly drawing things.”

“John K was a nightmare boss.”

“One of the producers had a sign on his wall labeled ‘John’s knees’ and invited people to kick it.”

“By the time he left it was reduced to a hole.”

“They made several episodes that were just the animators ranting about how much of an asshole that John K was.”~CrazyCoKids

The darkest of facts.

“A literal dark fact: Batman: the Animated Series had their backgrounds drawn on black paper instead of white paper, to make Gotham appear darker.”~PianoManGidley

Someone’s got a bone to pick.

“The creator of Skeletor was inspired by a corpse in a haunted house that he was 100% sure was real. Turned out he was right.”~Scodo

The implications aren’t so fun.

“In Disney’s Gargoyles, Goliath believes his entire clan is either dead or turned permanently to stone, and he asks the Magus to turn him to stone forever as well.”

“Yes, there were improbable terms to break the curse … but effectively, he was committing suicide.”

“He knew he was among the last of his kind and did not know if he would ever wake up again.”

“He left behind a rookery full of eggs (the next generation) when he did so.”

“Also, in City of Stone, Demona smashes statues that are humans turned to stone — she kills people on screen in a Disney cartoon.”

“Lots more examples from Gargoyles, but those two stick out.”~mynonymouse

Speaking of implications…

“There’s no normal animals in Pokémon, yet you see the characters eat meat all the time”~t00nland

Some shows hid their darkness in plain sight.

“Not so much about the production, but there is an obscure animated movie called The Adventures of Mark Twain that is stop motion animated, and in one pretty f*cked up scene Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Becky are greeted by an angel who says his name is Satan.”

“Except he looks nothing like a traditional angel, he holds a mask on a stick for a face which contorts into a demon and skeletal face at times.”

He then has the kids sculpt a village with people and a castle out of sand, and Satan then brings them to life.”

“The sand people get along but soon start fighting and Satan kills them by summoning lighting, causing an earthquake, etc…”

“The kids are horrified, but Satan just nonchalantly says they can make more and waxes poetic about how life is a vision and we don’t matter.”

“I can’t really do justice describing how eerie it is, but if you look up disturbing kid’s cartoons on YouTube, it’ll pop up.”~Lrehcsa1926

The whole point of some of these shows was the darkness. 

“When the Wind Blows is a movie that uses a bright palette and pleasant childhood aesthetic to tell the story of nuclear attack aftermath could-bes.”

“It follows an awfully gullible elderly couple with an overzealous trust in their government as they go on with their lives after the strike, which progressively gets worse as they succumb to radiation poison.”

“Sounds bad?”

“The pamphlet they seem to rely on is real and it’s just as out of touch and unsettling.”

“It has been suggested that it’s actual purpose is allowing for a better clean-up after you’re f*cking dead.”

“See also here.”~SoCriedtheZither

While other times the darkness lurked behind the scenes.

“The studio had to get someone else to sing ‘Soon You’ll Come Home’ in All Dogs go to Heaven because the voice actor, Judith Barsi, had such a traumatic home life because of an abusive, alcoholic father that she couldn’t sing the song without having a breakdown.”

“She and her mother were murdered by him before the movie was released in a double-murder/suicide.”

“She was only 10.”

“She was also the voice of Ducky from Land Before Time.”

“Her tombstone reads, ‘Yep! Yep! Yep!’ “~nnelson2330

After so much darkness, how about we end on something a bit lighter?

“I remember reading an interview with an animator who worked on the original She-Ra back in the 80’s, made by Filmation that there was some rather weird arguments from the producers over She-Ra not being lady-like enough.”

“Like a proper lady shouldn’t pick up and throw a tank, despite the fact that’s the literal point of the character, the most powerful woman in the universe.”

“And there’s an actual clip of her throwing a tank in the opening credits.”

“Of course there was a lot of push back from the artists and directors that She-Ra should be kicking all kinds of ass, and hurling tanks around.”

“I noticed in the last season of the new She-ra there’s a scene where she’s throwing tanks around and someone admonishes her for it saying ‘We don’t throw tanks at our friends’.”

“I can’t help but wonder if that was a nod to the old She-Ra and the hard time they got for tossing tanks around.”~Patches67

The cartoons we grew up with were meant for our enjoyment and education.

It’s interesting that the subject-matter didn’t always line up with those lofty goals, and truly heartbreaking that behind the scenes, events were sometimes much darker.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/