People Explain What They’d Want To Do With Their Final Hours On Earth

The average human lives an approximate 692,040 hours on Earth, according to a recent sleep study done by Dreams mattress company. This tops out at 28,835 days, or roughly 79 years.

While it might sound like a long time, considering time is ticking away as you’re reading this, we never have as much as we think.

So if life ended tomorrow and you knew about it in advance, what would you do with your final hours?

Reddit user, di_guyo, wanted to know what you would do with finite time when they asked:

You find out you have 1 hour to live, what do you do with your last hour on earth?

Indulge In Your Wildest Fantasies

“I have allergies. I will eat everything I had to stop eating because of them.” ~ shortinha

If We’re Being Real With Ourselves Here…

“Panic for an hour then die” ~ Grape_Jamz

“Most realistic answer here.” ~ lemaquilleur

Actually, This Feels The Most Realistic

“Scroll Netflix or Hulu until I find something to watch while I wait it out.” ~ bitterherpes

“You’ll be dead before you find anything!” ~ di_guyo

Get Those Likes In While You Can

“Have a beer and post on facebook—“if this post doesn’t get 5,000 likes in the next hour I will die.” ~ Talkaze

Why Change Perfection?

“Hang out on my couch with all my pets i guess. The usual” ~ induceddaftfan

Make The News In The Most Violent Way Possible

“Get in my car and drive as long as I can and as fast as I can. I’m talking 5 star wanted level; I want to make national news. And right before my timer goes off, I want to drive straight off a cliff and put on the most spectacular car crash anyone’s ever seen.” ~ StaySharpp

Say Good-Bye And Take A Seat

“Load the kids into the car, drive out to my parents’ place, give them all hugs and kisses, grab one of their whiskey bottles, walk out back to the lake, sit on the pier, and spend the last 10-15 minutes drinking and enjoying the view.” ~ AZNDavyJones

Get All The Important Messages Out Of The Way

“Hug all my immediate family. Make videos to send to all the people I love. I just lost someone and I’d kill for more voicemails and videos of them to replay when I miss them. I don’t wanna forget how they looked or sounded.” ~ Crimtot

“I’d have to hug my family as well, all jokes in this thread aside. My kids especially. Then for the last ten minutes I’d drive somewhere and park my car, call an ambulance. I want to give my family hugs, but I don’t want them to end up suddenly holding onto a corpse.” ~ Akhi11eus

“Record messages to my daughters for all of their major events in their life they have gotten to yet, graduations, weddings, births, that I won’t get a chance to be there for.”

“I would tell them how proud of them I am, and how they need to always look out for they mom.”

“I would tell my wife I love her, and my dogs they are the best boys/girls.” ~ An_aussie_in_ct

Give Blessings, Not Trauma

“Assuming I’m at home when I find out…Facetime my family and tell them I love them and talk about the good times we’ve had and tell them that they’ve made my life amazing.”

“Text my friends and let them know how much they mean to me and thank them for their friendship.”

“Hug my dogs and give them scratches. Sit on my balcony with my girl in my arms, dogs beside me, and let death take me.”

“…yeah dying in front of my fiancé would probably traumatize her…maybe I’d slip away the last 5 minutes and walk to a bench down the road so a passerby could find me.”

“Also I’d tell her it’s ok to move on, I wouldn’t want her to be alone the rest of her life” ~ adirtymedic

Mess With People In The Future

“Take a couple thousand dollars out of the bank. Die with that money clutched in my hand and surrounded by cryptic messages with allusions toward a much greater hidden treasure.” ~ remembernottopost

“Put GPS coordinates in a note that lead to a landmark/statue/whatever that you hate. People trying to find the statue will destroy it.” ~ BlatantConservative

This Does Feel The Most Likely…

“fall in a spiraling anxiety attack, trying to find out what to do for my last hour.”

“go see my parents? spend the time with my bf? eat my last meal? watch one more good show? walk in nature? say my good byes to my friends?”

“I have to make choices, what if I disappoint people because I didn’t contact them? I don’t have a will, what do I want to leave to whom? the dog won’t even understand that I’m dead!! I spent all my life studying for WHAT?”

“I’m gonna die having done nothing but that! No time to think about that, I should go play fetch with the pup… Do UberEats deliver lobster?”

“Is it gonna be good? Imagine having for last supper rubbery cold lobster. Let’s go out in a bang with champagne and sex! I don’t want to die naked though.”

“I don’t want my bf to be traumatized that way either. I’ve wasted already 5 minutes out of my last 60 minutes trying to figure it out, what if I get to do nothing because I was indecisi” ~ ChibiSailorMercury

But What Happens When You’ve Actually Lived It?

“I lived in Maui during the ‘Ballistic Missle Inbound this is not a drill’ event. We had 15 minutes. I was frantic trying to find out if it was true.”

“Then the resolve I was gonna die hit. I went outside smoked a cigarette and looked out at the ocean. I called none of my 6 kids.”

“Nobody picks up anyway and I didn’t want it to look like I favored one over the other. I reviewed my life and I was good.”

“Luckily it was a mistake. But I’ll never forget that feeling.” ~ itsrainingkids

Maybe have that donut today?

After all, it’s not like the world is ending tomorrow, right?

People Explain Which Scientific Advances May Sound Futuristic But Are Actually Reality Today

The future is now. There are so many advances happening on the daily, it’s impossible to keep up.

Science seems to be moving at warp speed. Everything we thought would be possible is now more than possible.

Soon, we’ll all be in space.

Well, those of us with billions of dollars of course.

Redditor emeister26 wanted to discuss all the fascinating facts about life and science that are already upon us by asking:

“What is something that sounds futuristic but is happening now?”

It’s all about the T…

“CAR T cell therapy.”

“They take the T cells out of a cancer patient. They train the cells to kill the specific type of cancer that the patient has and then they put them back in.”

“This therapy doesn’t work 100 % of the time, but when it does it does miracles.”

“(It’s also expensive as sh*t for now)”.  ~ strange_socks_

“I currently work in this field, and am currently commercializing my second CAR-T product in my life (my first was Kymriah).”

“It doesn’t always work 100% of the time, but the next generation of CAR-T’s have shown 100% remission rates.”

“Example of 100% remission.”

“CAR-T is roughly the same price as a monoclonal antibody, Amgens Blintocyte is $300k roughly, and Kymriah and Yescart are about $220-350k depending on where you are in the world.”

“So it’s pretty competitive.”  ~ arabidopsis

How many types are there?

“I’ve been a type 1 diabetic since 1982.”

“Back when I was first diagnosed, I had to pee on a stick and match the color up to colors on the vial to see approximately what my blood sugar was a couple hours ago.”

“Now I have an anamatronic fish that tells me what my sugar levels are and I don’t even have to prick my finger! We truly are truly living in the future.”  ~ rhett342

A.I. is upon us…

“Robotic prosthetic limbs. I know a guy who lost his arm from a construction accident.”

“He now has an arm that has a fully articulated hand, and is good enough that he can even write with it, though not very well.”

“He said it’s worth about half a million dollars, and also it has done wonders for his ability to hook up with women.”

“I guess a lot of people are curious and that starts off the conversation.”  ~ Youpunyhumans

“There are actually some amazing innovations in the robotic prosthetic scientific field that have JUST been published!”

“Scientists have been able to make a prosthetic arm with a sense of touch! This is very important, as it allows for better gripping of objects.”

“The test subject was able to pour a glass of water in half the time it took him with a non-feeling prosthetic.”

“It also allows people to enjoy the sensation of feeling, which is pretty awesome!”

“Also, piggybacking because it’s somewhat related, scientists have also recently discovered a way to allow a paralyzed man to type and control computers with only their thoughts!”

“The outside of the brain is the part that deals with bodily motion, so they surgically implanted electrodes and asked him to imagine hand-writing letters.”

“Then, a little bit of machine learning magic, and boom! He was able to write on a computer!”

“He was able to write 90 characters a minute! Kinda the ultimate “look ma, no hands!”

“Links to articles:”

“https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/20/998725924/a-sense-of-touch-boosts-speed-accuracy-of-mind-controlled-robotic-arm

“https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/medical-advances/553323-in-amazing-first-paralyzed-man-is-able-to-type”  ~ cancer_dragon

Photos and texts of the future.

“A program that is able to generate almost any (!!!) photo using short text input.”

“A San Francisco street? Done. Avocado chair? Yes, why not. A photo of buildings of Poland? YES, it can do that.”

“It can generate almost any stock photo you can imagine, like any any, you can add parameters, lighting, ask to specific picture in the room.”

“It uses 12 billion of pictures and descriptions to do this. There are two downsides of course: the first one is lots of lots of computational power.”

“The second is that the program is losing the track after few parameters.”

“Also it can do only 100×100 pixels at the time but it will change fast.”

“It’s called DALL-E and was premiered this year. It’s an AI made by OpenAI. Terrific and amazing at the same time.”  ~ umotex12

Know the Survey

“I’m fourth generation of an excavating company and some of our surveying techniques now are unbelievable.”

“When we started in the 60’s you used a contraption called a theodolite and prism (a fancy level used to measure the distance and elevation change of the prism).”

“One of the fondest memories I’ll ever hold happened two months ago shortly before my Grandpa (the founder) passed away.”

“I showed him how to survey a 30 acre site with a drone in about 45 minutes (all automated), something that would have taken a crew well over a week in his time.”

“I then took the data, had it processed, and showed him the prints of the site right on site with my laptop. He cried.”   ~ cmde44

Visualize it and See it!

“I work in the construction industry.”

“Technology has really made projects easier to plan out and do. Like back in the day, paper blueprints were how you visualized a job.”

“Big huge paper rolls that were a pain in the a** to carry around and store, and the prints were easy to damage because well… they’re paper.”

“If there was ever a change to the prints, you’d have to wait for the drafters to draw them, print them, and send them to your job.”

“Nowadays the foreman or project manager carry an iPad with all of the blueprints, both in 2D and 3D CAD drawing and can look up every detail of the drawings in seconds.”

“And if the drafters have to make changes, they can email or message the site foreman and give them new prints in a matter of minutes.”

“This isn’t your dad’s construction site anymore.”  ~ Mercurydriver

Just think reeeeal hard!

“Being able to control objects with your brain. I know it’s still in its infancy but the fact that we can even attempt do stuff like that is crazy.”  ~ Cruise_alt_40000

Year One

“A blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s.”  ~ Geekla

“It was on Jeopardy tonight, actually, yes! I’ve been reading about it.”

“It’s less than a year old, just getting started and I’m guessing just the first version of more to come, but it’s real and it made my whole day to hear it.”  ~ Geekla

Body Parts

“3d printed organs.”  ~ turn_your_compote 

“I really hope that one day they can just scrape a few of your stem cells, and 3 weeks later they’ve grown you a new heart, liver, kidneys, etc.”  ~ Diligent_Slide

The lifespan of light…

“Something I just noticed the other day.”

“CFL light bulbs became popular and all but got replaced by LED bulbs all within the lifespan of a single bulb.”

“I was replacing a bulb the other day that was a CFL and I remember the last time I replaced it, the previous bulb was an incandescent.”  ~ Restil

The Good Landing

“Rockets landing upright… to me it looks like bad special effects, because it was never in any good movies.”  ~ redmaybe

Technology and science, two things I’ll never understand. But two things I can’t avoid.

We are close to living in The Jetsons.

I can feel it. Can you?

People Divulge The Craziest Deathbed Confessions They’ve Ever Heard

People on their deathbed must want a clean slate for transitioning into the afterlife, because it is there on which truths are revealed.

Watching a loved one slowly slipping away is indisputably one of the hardest rites of passage to witness.

However, there can be room for the slightest bit of levity when they finally have something they’ve been wanting to get off their chest.

What they impart could potentially change one’s perception of them forever.

Curious to hear some of the memorable things strangers online heard someone on their deathbed say, Redditor random_guy_somewhere asked:

“People who have heard deathbed confessions, what were some interesting ones?”

These final moments were far from peaceful but make for great stories.

A Sinister Confession

“My grandma confessed to murder on her deathbed. Usually you’d think it was the pain relief, but she was such an eccentric it was actually believable.”

“We traced all her ex-husbands, partners and any other likely candidates and fortunately no one was missing or died an untimely death, but sometimes I wonder…” – NotAnEarthwormYet

A Broken Tradition

“Not my story but that of a hospice worker who spoke to my class. For those who don’t know, hospice is a method of end-of-life care that focuses on alleviating the emotional & physical pain of a dying person to ease their passing rather than combatting their imminent death.”

“One of her patients was a bed-bound woman in her 90s who was generally unresponsive but had flashes of recognition & engagement. It’s hard to gauge the level to which unresponsive patients are detached from their surroundings, so they encourage family members to keep their company in hopes of soothing the patient.”

“Now this patient was from a U.S. state that prided itself on its state university (and the university’s football team). The woman’s family had attended this university for four or five generations.”

“During her hospice care, however, her great-granddaughter was the first in their family to decide to go to a different school—the rival state’s university, in fact. Her family was supportive of her decision but often joked about her being the ‘rebel’ or ‘Judas’ or what-have-you.”

“One day, they were all sitting around the woman’s bedside, teasing the girl about her decision. Suddenly, the patient sat up, looked at her great-granddaughter, said, ‘Traitor,’ and f’king DIED.” – scatteringbones

The following confessions were bold enough to elicit a chuckle.

Last-Minute Truths

“My grandpa, a Sicilian man with blessed cooking skills, told us on his deathbed that his meatballs were actually frozen meatballs from the grocery store.” – orangestar17

An Experimental Past

“My grandfather admitted to me and only me that he “accidentally” had sex with a man.” – Aggravating_Fish_169

Why Owls?

“I have an amazing one:”

“My great grandmother lived a very long and interesting life. She was in her 20s in the great depression. She had a wild streak from those days that we don’t know much about, to the point that we actually don’t know our great grandfather’s name. Just the husband she took later.”

“Over the course of her nearly 100 year life, she had collected owls. Literally thousands of owl figurines. She had clocks, wall-hangings, potholders, lamps, stained glass art, salt shakers, and more little figurines than you could imagine, all depicting owls.”

“We all wondered the importance of the owls. She never talked about them, we just all knew she loved owls.”

“Well, when she was nearing death, at the age of 98 or 99, and the docs said she had days, my grandparents went and talked to her and they asked her if she had anything she wanted to share or ask before she goes.”

“She thought for a moment, then said, ‘I never understood the owls.’”

“It turns out, she didn’t really give a sh*t about owls. Near as we could piece together sometime in the 40s or 50s perhaps, she bought either a trivet or a set of salt/pepper shakers that were owls. Then someone got her the other.”

“Those were the oldest owls anyone could remember. But from there, someone got her an owl to match, probably a potholder or place mat. And all the sudden her kitchen was owl themed. From there, it snowballed. The owls flowed like wine, baffling her for 60 years, eventually taking over as the bulk of her personal belongings.”

“The moral is: if you’re not actually into something, mention it early.”

These tender, poignant moments are sure to stay with these Redditors forever.

A Proud Parent

“My dad had Alzheimer’s and ended up in a secure ward. He was blind and almost deaf. I was visiting him one day. He didn’t know who I was, but he started talking about me.”

“He said I had done better than him in life and that he was proud of me. He was a quiet man IRL and never told me that when I was growing up.”

“Looking back, he did things that my dumb ass never realised were for me. Like, when he retired his colleagues asked what he’d like as a present. He chose a scientific calculator (this was back in the 1970’s).”

“He had no use for it. He gave it to me for university. I thought he was just passing it on, not realising that he’d asked for it with me in mind.” – LactatingWolverine

The Favorite

“I don’t know if this counts as a confession but it felt like one.”

“My grandparents have three daughters. Everyone always said that my mom was my grandfather’s secret favorite. He never agreed.”

“I heard he was on his death bed on April 6th. Went to see him on April 8th. He was scary looking and the doctor kept saying he didn’t understand why he wasn’t dead yet.”

“April 9th everyone but my mom had the chance to come and say goodbye. She doesn’t drive and my dad works 10 hours away. My grampa kept saying her name (well, saying.. he couldn’t eat or drink so it was more like a whisper).”

“My mom came by on the 10th. He looked at her.. smiled.. whispered ‘my amy.’”

“He closed his eyes and never opened them again.” – DoctorWhoTheF**k

Ready To Go

“When I was in hospital, the guy in the bed next to me just asked to stop taking his meds as he was ready to die. Last thing I heard him say was ‘There’s no one waiting for me at home, so I’m going where they are.’”

“Wasn’t really a shocking confession, just a lonely and heartbreaking one.” – DanHero91

Deathbed confessions are overrated, I say.

These intriguing anecdotes are a good reminder to ask questions and share as much about yourself to anyone, regardless of their age, while they’re still around.

I would never want to regret not having known a person well or vice versa before one of us expires.

We never know how much time we have with a person we hold near and dear to our hearts.

Sleepwalkers Break Down The Scariest Thing That’s Happened To Them While Asleep

Are you somnambulant?

If you are, you probably know this phenomenon by a different name—sleepwalking.

It mostly happens at night… mostly, and repeated occurrences can be a sign of an underlying sleep disorder.

A few years back, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers found about 3.6% of American adults are prone to sleepwalking. That’s more than 8.4 million adults, by the way.

And according to The Mayo Clinic, “sleepwalking appears to run in families” so if you happen to sleepwalk a fair amount, you might be genetically predisposed to do so.

Sleepwalking occurs more often in children than adults, however, so if you engage in sleepwalking as an adult, you could have some other underlying condition.

Sleepwalking itself is not harmful.

But it can be hazardous, and there have been quite a few horror films over the years that incorporated sleepwalking into their narratives.

But don’t worry, it can be quite funny, too!

Given sleepwalking’s comedic (and horrific) potential, it makes perfect sense that Redditor michaelw619 asked the online community:

“Sleepwalkers of Reddit, what’s the scariest/funniest thing that has happened to you while sleepwalking?”

“I don’t sleepwalk much anymore…”

“I don’t sleepwalk much anymore but about a year ago I put several pairs of shoes in the fridge.” ~ marleej

“I was met in a dream…”

“Only ever happened one time. I was met in a dream by my doppelgänger. She was a mirror image of me, but more beautiful.”

“Her eyes were bluer, her teeth whiter, her complexion clearer, her hair a shinier, longer blonde. She said, ‘When you dream, you’re in my world. I want to live in your world. I want to trade places with you.’”

“I grabbed my cellphone, backing out of my apartment with my eyes on her when a black shape exploded from a nearby closet flying straight at me.”

“I turned and ran out my front door, and was headed down the narrow staircase of the old house I lived in when I heard a low, gravelly voice say ‘Where ya goin’ Dolly?’”

“The black shape whisked around the corner and then it was upon me. I awoke in a crumpled heap on the staircase, my cellphone gripped tightly in my white fist.” ~ [deleted]

“One time, he woke up one morning…”

“My dad used to sleepwalk. One time, he woke up one morning and had about six cats sitting with him on the couch. They all had owners.”

“According to his next-door neighbor, who was very nosy, she saw my dad running around luring these cats with food and bringing them home with him in the middle of the night.”

“He has no memory of doing that and can’t explain why he didn’t wake up to the meowing and scratching the cats made.”

“Luckily he didn’t get charged with animal kidnapping but had to start tying his feet to the bedpost so there weren’t any more incidents for a few years.”

“We also learned that my dad was allergic to cats, so there’s that.” ~ [deleted]

“I have an Ambien prescription…”

“I have an Ambien prescription and I often cook ambitious meals at night, with no memory in the morning. It’s not unusual for my roommates to find me cooking bacon at 3 a.m.”

“At first it was concerning–what if I burn down the house? However, my unconscious self is extremely diligent–I ALWAYS clean up entirely and usually end up cleaning the entire kitchen.” ~ [deleted]

“When I asked what the hell he was doing…”

“My boyfriend sleepwalks. A couple of nights ago he ripped the duvet off me and threw it in the hall. When I asked what the hell he was doing he just replied that it’s full of spiders and then just stood facing the wall.” ~ Eliza109

“Not my finest moment.”

“So one time I had a dream that my brother (who was too young to swim at the time) jumped into a swimming pool so I dived in to save him… Yeah in reality I just dived off my bunk bed… Not my finest moment.” ~ UkuleleRequiem

“She asked me if I was ok…”

“My mom told me that I stood over her till she woke up. She asked me if I was ok and I just turned around and went back to bed.” ~ th3_pope

“Around 4 a.m. the other night…”

“Around 4 a.m. the other night my girlfriend let out a violent scream and sprinted to the door where she began beating on it!”

“I ran over, grabbed her, and when I did she began screaming even louder and started flinging her arms around until she finally realized it was me and she woke up.”

“She said she was having a dream and there was a stranger trying to kidnap her. I’ve never been so terrified in my entire life!”

“Also found out that if something ever did happen to me in my apartment, my neighbors don’t give a s*** and I would definitely die.” ~ robmacgar

“Apparently I had an imaginary phone call…”

“Apparently I had an imaginary phone call with someone for fifteen minutes about what I was going to have for breakfast in the morning.” ~ ITomza

“I took an entire carton of milk…”

“I took an entire carton of milk from my fridge then proceeded to return it after much deliberation with myself.” ~ CatchingSomeZs

 “He didn’t know our room number.”

“One time in a hotel, my little brother left the room and walked down the hall before waking up. He didn’t know our room number.” ~ sadafasadafagafagada

“The only time I did that…”

“The only time I did that, I walked into the kitchen and started digging around in the junk drawer looking for scissors.”

“My dad asked what I needed scissors for, I grumbled ‘Never mind,’ and went back to bed. Remembered none of it the next day.” ~ Okaylasttime

Humans are wild, man.

Well, that settles it. None of us are safe.

We can’t even enjoy a little bit of sleep without getting ourselves into danger!

This is truly why we can’t have nice things.

Facts Even New Yorkers Don’t Know About New York City

New Yorkers are notorious know-it-alls.

But New York City is more than just the perfect slice of pizza or that subway performer you thought was cool at first but now find kind of annoying.

Sex And The City might not be the best representation of New York City, but we should all feel like Carrie walking around in a tutu every once in a while.

There is so much history in the city. And, there is no way someone knows all of it. But, this is a good place to start.

These are the best New York City facts even the most loyal New Yorkers may not know.

Where does it come from?

Lenape, Rockaway and Canarsie Indians once occupied what is now New York City.

In fact, Manhattan comes from the Munsi language from the Lenni Lenape “Manhatta.” This means the island of many hills. The city might not have any hills now, but it is a way to remember the land that used to be here.

The same, but different.

Houston Street and Houston, Texas are pronounced differently because they are named after different people.

Houston, Texas, pronounced HUe-stun, was named after Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas and one of the first individuals to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.

On the other hand, Houston Street, pronounced HOW-stun, was named for William Houstoun. Houstoun’s father-in-law, Nicholas Bayard III, carved up his farmland in what is now SoHo into a grid pattern and named the newly formed streets.

But, it’s been updated.

All the original street names have since changed except for Houstoun, which just lost a “U” somewhere in the mix and became Houston.

And you can say it in different languages.

Some experts believe that there are over 800 languages spoken in New York City. Which makes it one of the most linguistically diverse place in the world.

Makes sense, since people come from all over the world to make this city their home.

It’s a confusing way to tell time.

The giant digital countdown board on the south end of Union Square is pretty much just a clock.

The first seven digits explain what time it is by counting from midnight in military time, to the hundredth of a second. And the last eight digits explain how long until it is midnight again.

Because isn’t that what everyone needs?

There’s a reason why they’re called “islands.”

Coney Island isn’t an Island today, but it once was, thus the name.

The Coney Island Creek once separated the island from mainland Brooklyn but the creek was filled in to create the Belt Parkway before WWII.

Similarly Kips Bay was once a bay even though it’s now just another Manhattan neighborhood. The East River inlet extended into Manhattan just west of what is now First Avenue and filled what is now about 5 city blocks.

The bay became reclaimed land but the name still stuck.

We all know the nickname.

Speaking of names, the Big Apple was once almost the Big Orange.

For more than a year around 1673, NYC was known as the New Orange before the Dutch ceded the land to the British under the Treaty of Westminster.

And the name “The Big Apple” well that comes from 1920s horse racing when the phrase was used to describe the city’s big racing venues.

The name of a traitor?

In Manhattan’s Lower East Side, there’s a plaza named after a Soviet Spy.

Samuel Dickstein Plaza is named after a former New York congressman who was later revealed provided information to the Soviets in exchange for monthly
payments in the late 1930s.

But no one has gotten around to renaming the intersection.

New Yorkers love to read.

The New York Public Library consists of 92 locations with 53 million items. They serve Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx. Queens and Brooklyn have their own library system.

The New York Public Library is the second largest library system in the country, following the Library of Congress, and the fourth largest in the world.

The Main Branch has become an iconic building. It was named a National Historical Landmark in 1965, and a New York City Landmark in 1967.

We love pizza.

New York City has the first recognized pizzeria in the country. “Lombardi’s” was the first place to bring the Italian tradition to the U.S. However, they were forced to close in 1984 and re-opened 10 years later, so it is not considered the oldest continuously operated pizzeria in the country.

Now, you can still find quality $1 pizza slices all over the city.

This lead to the Pizza Principle.

New Yorkers are so passionate about pizza that there is a whole economic theory based on it.

The Pizza Principle, or the Pizza-Subway Connection was proposed by native New Yorker Eric M. Bram. In the early 60’s the price of a slice of pizza matched the price of a subway ride.

This continued for years until the MTA decided to discontinue the subway token and Metro Cards became the norm.

At one point people were able to predict a rise in subway fare by the raise in price of a pizza slice. And many argue this principle still holds true.

We all take the subway.

We care about subway fares since approximately 1.6 billion people use the subway every year.

There are 7 numbered lines and 15 letter lines in the New York City subway system. And, the MTA has 6,684 subway cars and 472 stations with the deepest being 191 St in Manhattan,180 feet below street level.

The busiest subway station is Times Square at 42st with 65 million riders. The longest line is the A train from 207th Street in Manhattan to Far Rockaway in Queens.

Finding a U-Haul would be impossible.

Until the 1920s, May 1 was the city wide moving day, everyone’s leases expired on the same day.

Imagine the mayhem!

Living is New York can be chaotic, but learning about it’s history and cultural impact shows how amazing the city truly is.

People Who Work For The Super Rich Share The Craziest Thing They’ve Seen On The Job

Rich people, meaning those with an excess of money beyond the average person, will do some unthinkable things simply because of their wealth privilege.

Psychologically, people with incredible amounts of money often don’t see their own privilege. They think their wealth, and the lack of wealth in others, was simply due to their own morals, character traits and abilities.

The filthy rich are also at a high risk for depression because wealth can cause a relentless need for more that has been linked to unhappiness.

Redditor NeighborhoodTrolley asked:

“People who cater to the super rich; what things have you seen?”

We want to know what money really does to people.

They forgot a whole car.

“I’m a driving instructor and one group rented the track to drive their supercars for the day. At the end of the day they all partnered up and got into the cars to leave. After they were gone we realized that they had forgotten their Lamborghini Aventador at the track.” – skell15

“That was the tip.” – TheBokononInitiative

“If I had a nickel for every Lamborghini I forgot somewhere, I tell ya, I’d be rich!” – ShaughnDBL

“‘Dude… where’s my car,’ for the super wealthy.” – giddyup281

Just get it catered.

“Family friends were having marital issues. Their marriage counselor figured out a lot of their problems were over cooking meals.”

“The counselor reminded them that they are rich and can just cater all their meals, and it would be cheaper than getting a divorce. They listened to the counselor and now are happily married again.” – waterloograd

“‘Aren’t you guys like…you know…fabulously wealthy.’”

“‘…oh yeah, we’d completely forgotten about that.’” – Foxsayy

“This is some real curb your enthusiasm sh*t.” – emsok_dewe

“Until they get divorced anyway because someone falls in love with the at-home chef.” – bakarac

“‘Money does make you happy HAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA.’” – poopellar

“Money doesn’t make you happy, but poverty can certainly make you miserable.”

“According to a 2010 study, a salary of around $75k – money buys security, after that there’s no measurable increase in happiness linked to money.” – Fraerie

“Oxygen is a better analogy honestly.”

“You know when you don’t have it.”

“All your priorities immediately shift to getting it.”

“You want an unlimited supply of it to never think about it again.” – PhotonResearch

Wouldn’t spend money on coffee.

“Client was a mega millionaire in the 60s so even richer when I met him. He’d ride the bus to the office to have free coffee. Every day.”

“He was the founder of a company that had it’s named emblazoned on shipping containers being transported via big rig trucks in the states, but also international shipping and logistics. Came into financial offices daily for the free coffee. Didn’t even talk about his finances, just for the coffee and then would skedaddle.” – sunlitglo

“He probably grew up in the 30s and knew to be defensive with his money.” – bingboy23

“My grandpa is one of those born in the 30s people and they’re a weird breed man. He owns a bunch of real estate all around Seattle and he cannot refuse a bargain of any kind & would be the one to ride the bus to get free coffee. Probably has 50 million in properties but still goes to the thrift store 3x a week hunting for a good deal.” – slapstellas

“Old neighbour had 7-8 mil. in cash and lived off of cooking potatores once a week and burning both ends of matches, hadn’t gotten a toilet installed in his house, still used one in the barn.”

“Was more than 90 when he splurged on a radio and tv. Dude would have been unhappy living a ‘wasteful’ life.” – Chiliconkarma

Private jet for a dog.

“A woman who owned a small private jet business told me one time someone paid them to fly their dog (by itself) to NY for about $45,000 for some training. No other passengers.” – aticho

“It’s silly to imagine an untrained doggo trying to manage at the baggage claim.” – tdriser

“I’ve had coworkers (in avaition) fly across the country for a lobster roll and coffee beans.”

“The trip there and back probably cost 60k minimum..”

“Unreal.”

“Private aviation is unreal. Let’s say you fly from New York to South Florida. (About 3 hours…give or take a bit). That’s 6hrs round trip.”

“Private jets can range from a few thousand an hour to 15k plus. Our company has larger planes..so let’s say 8k/hr. Round trip TRAVEL is $48,000. JUST AIRFARE.”

“That is more than a lot of people make in a year and these folks are spending that on airfare.”

“Private aviation has gone gangbusters since Trump’s tax cuts…. Good to know it helped some people….” – Guppy-Warrior

“See, this is why I roll my eyes when they tell us we all need to drink through paper straws to deal with climate change.”

“The problem isn’t me drinking through a plastic straw, it’s freaking Rupert Léopold Farnzworth III over here dumping massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere just to fly Sparky across the Western Hemisphere for an hour of dog training and some lobster bread, while Jeff Bezos launches a damn penis into space.”

“The straw thing was a bad example.”

“But still, even if Private Jets are only a small percent of global emissions, you gotta admit, the people that own them are probably the same people running the 100 or so companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, and if they’re cool with flying cross country because they’re too snooty for a damn cup of Folger’s, they’re probably spending a lot more time figuring out how to get out of paying taxes than figuring out how to make their companies stop burning the planet alive.

“I got no problem trying to reduce my own carbon footprint, but it feels a little disproportionate if those guys aren’t doing jack about their sh*t.” – adamislolz

Quite the tip.

“Old high school teacher of mine is an extremely successful private tutor and does a lot of work in the wealthy neighborhoods in the area.”

“He told us once he was tutoring a kid and helped him get prepared and pass his college level physics class and at the end of their last session the kid told him to wait there and went into his dad’s office and came out with his payment and an extra $1,000. My teacher tried to deny it, saying it was too much but the kid said his dad asked him to give a tip.” – TexasFordTough

“I used to deliver Pizza and this big ass house was ordering 4-5 pizza every Sunday, the lady (a worker at this house) was giving us $100 tip. The first time, when I tried to refuse it, she told me the ‘master’ of the house insist on tipping $100 to the pizza guys.” – hos7name

“I tipped a pizza guy $100 once for bringing me a corkscrew. Not rich just drunk.” – rhet17

“Check out old fancy pants here, drinking wine from a bottle that needs a corkscrew.” – a**_scar

The shadow yacht.

“I live near a company that builds yachts. One day there was an odd looking yacht. A crew member explained to me that was a ‘shadow-yacht’.”

“You see, when you get hyper rich and have multiple yachts. You wouldn’t want to ruin the astetic of your nice yachts with jetski’s and helicopters.”

“Nor would you want your crew to sleep on the nice yacht. So you buy a shadow yacht to store your toys and to house your crew. This shadow yacht follows your fleet of nice yachts around.” – Doppar

“I was hoping ‘shadow yacht’ meant it used stealth technology or fought the pirates.”

“I am disappoint.” – HOA-President

A special sales person.

“When rich people want to buy a Jaguar in the UK they get assigned a special sales person who is incredibly knowledgeable, they meet in a special fancy office, and special arrangements can be made.”

“This was my friend Chris’ job, he had access to things that a normal Jaguar sales person wouldn’t have. Like he could ring up the manager of the factory for special requests level of access.”

“Well a Saudi Price wanted to buy this new Jaguar that had been released, so they met up and spent a full day specing the Jaguar out. I believe the final price was something like 125k for the vehicle.”

“Then came the decision for color, at the time the factory had 16 different color choices for this model. The Prince asked if he could sleep on it as it was getting late and almost time for dinner/prayer my friend Chris says of course and they set a time to meet the next morning.”

“The next morning the Saudi Prince is like, ‘I figured out an acceptable solution to my color dilemma,’ to which Chris goes, ‘And what would that be?’ the Saudi Prince goes ‘I’ll order one of each color’.”

“And my friend Chris is like, ‘Oh, well of course.’ They quote delivery time, Saudi Prince was fine and asked for his options and was presented with ocean travel options to which the Prince said, ‘What about air cargo?’”

“Chris thinking maybe they’d do 1 or 2 by air cargo and the rest by boat, the Prince was like, ‘No I want all 16 vehicles loaded on a plane, and flown to Saudi Arabia’.”

“So that’s the story on how 16 of the same Jaguar with different colors ended up being flown to Saudi Arabia. All in the total cost was around 2.5 million. Please note the prices should be £ not $.” – luther_williams

Gift giving as a form of love.

“I became personal friends with my boss and his wife; super nice people. The wife turned out to be an heiress and would buy me whatever I mentioned, like in passing during a conversation. I learned gifts were how she was raised to show love.”

“I’ve trained myself to only talk about things I already own, unless I find something useful she might like and suggest it for her.” – Lazya**bummer

“Can you talk about a new house for your new reddit friend?” – mollested_skittles

“I’m not super rich or anything, but I think gifts are kicka** and I’d much rather spend my money on a cool gift for a friend who can use it than on something extra I don’t need.”

“I was a software engineer while most of my friends are/were in grad school/med school/working low-paying jobs, so I’ve enjoyed being able to chip in or get nice things for them when they said they couldn’t.”

“I do always make sure they’re ok with it and ask if I can in advance so nobody ends up uncomfortable.” – Zephaerus

Down to earth rich people.

“My grandpa was a piano tuner. He couldn’t drive due to epilepsy so family would take him to jobs.”

“One day dad took him to a job and got talking to the owner. He said the guy lived in the biggest nicest mansion he had ever seen. Everything in the house was crazy expensive. But the owner and his wife were very down to earth and normal. If not a bit rough around the edges.”

“Finally his curiosity got the better off him and dad asked how they made their money.”

“The guy said he used to drive a truck and got tired of needing to carry around bottles of ketchup.”

“That’s how my dad met the creator of the ketchup packet.” – blitzbom

An acute sense of time.

“Some extremely wealthy people I have been around have a more acute sense of their own time and mortality, leading to impatience. Like they understand how awesome their lives are and therefore how short they feel.”

“I knew a guy whose vintage yacht broke down before summer so he bought another one strictly for that upcoming Summer. His reasoning was he likely had 20 full health summers left in his life and didn’t want to spend one of them without a boat considering he had the means to. Honestly can’t argue with that logic.” – cholula_is_good

“I am beginning to feel the awareness of being able to count the healthy years left and I’m not mega rich. Must be amazing to know you can pack those remaining years full of wonderful and wild experiences.” – Earthan

It’s wild to think that there are people out there, using their money to privately fly dogs to training or buying expensive cars in every color.

All the while, people are going on strike for better working conditions and fair wages across the U.S. Half a million workers walk off the job in South Korea in a general strike.

If we’re not paying attention to the ultra rich, we might end up in a real Squid Games.

People Who’ve Called In To A Police Tip Line And Gotten The Reward Share Their Story

There are, at last count, around 8 billion people on the planet.

The odds of someone seeing a crime committed are actually quite high when put into that perspective.

That’s where tip lines come in. The crime is committed, someone knows about it, and they call the number and get a nice little reward for their assistance.

Of course, for the people that call the line, how they got there is the real story.

Redditor Renzotl56 was curious and so came to Reddit to ask:

“Has anyone here ever actually called into one of the FBI rewards for information on criminals and won the money? And what happened?”

Coincidence can pay handsomely.

Ten years ago I’m working front desk at this third rate motel and I’m the only employee on property until 7am.”

“So I get this report of an unruly guest and check it out.”

“Dudes whacked out on something, threatening other guests and I call the cops to remove him.”

“On their way out they tell me he’s got active warrants in another state.”

“I don’t think anything of until three months later I got a check sent to me at work from a sheriff’s office two states over.”

“Turns out the guy was wanted for a double murder and I got the reward when he was convicted.”

“I felt pretty good about that.”~still_alive_in_NY

The reward isn’t always money.

“This is kind of related, when I was younger there was a bad drought and the lake I went to fish at was probably 10 feet below where it usually is maybe more, and I went to go fishing under a bridge with my stepdad.”

“I got bored so I started playing in the rocks.”

“I found an old pocket knife and a pistol.”

“Turned the pistol in to the local police department and got a metal back from them and a letter where it was used in a case to convict a murderer, I don’t really remember the details I was in fourth or fifth grade“~p*ssycrusha69

Sometimes, the best reward is a job well done.

“My sister has a pretty weird hobby – she solves cold cases by helping match descriptions of bodies that have never been positively ID’d to missing persons matching the body’s description.”

“She’s solved several cases and submits them to the FBI tip line.”

“Twice now, she’s gotten phone calls from law enforcement as a result, one from the FBI and one from a local police department.”

“One had reward money tied to it from long, long ago.”

“She turned it down.”

“Both times, she’s informed the agency calling that the missing person disappeared before she was 10 years old (that’s her limit, she doesn’t look at recent cases to avoid potential problems), and they just kinda shrug and move on.”

“That’s all.”~notsolittleliongirl

Some people had to give a bit more help than others. 

“In college we had a drive-by shooting on my block.”

“The police showed up and asked all the neighbors if they had any information.”

“I had just heard the shots from my house, and wasn’t able to help.”

“A few days later I was walking home from class and I found a shell casing the in the grass near where the shooting was.”

“I didn’t want to touch it so I got home and called the police.”

“I was very very specific about exactly where the shell casing was, and that I DO NOT want the police to come to my door.”

“The neighbors were pretty sketchy people and I just didn’t want to be seen being involved.”

“Well, these f*cking cops walked right to my front door and asked for me.”

“I told them exactly where to find it (again), they walked to the general area, looked for maybe a minute, then walked back to my front door and asked if I could show where it was.”

“Godd*mit.”

“So I led them to shell casing while the sketchy neighbors stood on their porch and watched (looking very displeased).”

“Apparently, the fingerprints on the casing matched one of their suspects and he was arrested and went to jail.”

“The cops stopped by a few months later with a $20 giftcard to a sub shop.”~Throwaway_stopdrink

The real villain here is soap. 

“I called CrimeStoppers once.”

“The local news released a video of someone violently robbing a store.”

“They beat up the cashier pretty bad.”

“I knew it the second the video started who it was—a guy I used to party with and had spent the night with a few times.”

“The CrimeStopper folks gave me a number to write down to claim the money if he was convicted.”

“I wrote it on my hand then washed it off accidentally like an idiot.”

“It was on the smaller side, I think around $1k, but it would have made a big difference at the time.”

“And the guy did end up getting convicted and is still in prison now.”

“I’m sure a bunch of people called in, though, so I don’t know how much I would have gotten.”

“Anyone who grew up in my area who was around my age would have known the guy.”~yourerightaboutthat

It isn’t always about what you know, but where you are. 

“My step-mom got a $25k FBI reward when she came across a girl who had been abducted (and her whole family was murdered).”

“The girl had been held in the cabin next door to my parents’ cabin for about 3 months.”

“The guy who did it left her alone for a couple of hours and she escaped, in the middle of winter in a very cold area.”

“My step-mom was walking her dog in a pretty isolated area and the girl ran up to her; she was obviously very disoriented and traumatized but step-mom helped her escape through the woods to a safe place and call the cops.”

“There was a huge media circus, and although all the reward money ($25k from the FBI and $25k from a local business) was awarded to my step-mom, she concluded that since the girl had technically rescued herself, it was appropriate for the money to go to her.”

“(Apparently there is some rule that you can’t get FBI reward money in a case where you’re either the victim or perpetrator, so the money had to be accepted and then gifted back to the girl.)”

“In the end, the girl got the money and my step-mom got a big tax bill that year because reward money is taxable.”

“She got to be interviewed on national TV by Gayle King though and, y’know, helped save someone’s life.”

“So she’s pretty okay with it.”~cityofdestinyunbound

Usually, though, it’s about who you know. 

“One of my wife’s co-workers received a substantial reward for turning in the so-called ’20th hijacker’, Zacarias Moussaoui.”~reg-o-matic

And, 

“Worked at a small, local bank.”

“A regular customer comes in and I greeted them by name.”

“They hand their check and a note to me.”

“Note says they have a gun and to hand over all the money in the drawer.”

“I comply and as the customer leaves I push the emergency button.”

“We had all of this person’s info on file and the police caught them at home.”

“Bank recovered the money, person went to jail, and I got a small reward for ‘catching’ them”~mpshanny87

The little laws are always the hardest to avoid. 

“Don’t remember the full details but my mom called the cops on some guy who was featured on America’s Most Wanted.”

“Guy was on the run for several things I think but still took time out to get his tag renewed at the DMV.”~whatnameisnttaken098

Even criminals can show kindness. 

“My neighbor down the road growing up was always getting into trouble.”

“One day someone robbed a gas station with a gun, and accidentally shot the clerk (so he claimed), and the police didn’t know who did it.”

“After about a month, they offered up a small reward for information.”

“The guy arranged to have his wife turn him in to collect the reward because she would need it since he knew he was going away for a long time.“~samuraidogparty

From terrorists to belligerent hotel guests, all were brought to justice by the power of tip lines.

While the rewards weren’t always substantial, the above stories are really about people working together to keep everyone else safe.

That’s always a good call.

People Describe The Most Disrespectful Thing A Houseguest Has Ever Done In Their Home

Most of us have had a guest in our home from time to time, whether it was a quick coffee, a weekend party, a8 longtime stay or anything in-between.

But there are those of us who are lucky enough to say nothing particularly inappropriate happened during those visits.

For others of us… unfortunately, not so much.

Redditor xxHEYxx asked: 

“What’s the most disrespectful thing a guest ever did in your home?”

Some guests blatantly disrespected hobbies and collections.

“They decided to completely rearrange the bookshelf that I have categorized by author and genre. They wanted it to look more ‘cozy,’ so they added a bunch of stuff and took books out, rearranged them, etc.” – King1861

“Background, I love puzzles and own a decent collection of wooden ones that are used as decoration in the guest bedroom.”

“A guest who was sleeping over decided it would be a good idea to dismantle every single one of the puzzles, mix all of their pieces together, and leave them in a pile for me to find the next day.”

“This happened years ago and remembering it still gets me p**sed off…” – j0bs

“I had some friends in middle school come over and smash up all the Lego sets in my room then wondered why I didn’t want them to come over again.” – Hydrosimian

“I had a giant bucket of random assorted legos as a kid. One of my friends p**sed in it at a sleepover one night and let me tell you, you don’t really notice it at first until it gets real pungent, and by then it’s too late. Never found out who did it to this day, but I have my suspicions.” – kargu12

Others disregarded any sense of personal hygiene.

“Cut their toenails in my living room. They were just visiting for a few hours.” – PigCopsFatTits

“Oh man, my friend hosted a sleepover for some friends, and one of the guests apologized for their feet, because they’d just done one of those baby feet things and the soles of their feet were PEELING EVERYWHERE.”

“Only after we were like, ‘Maybe put some socks on so you don’t leave a trail of dead skin everywhere?’ did she do something about it.” – haylmoll13

“A guy blew his nose on a tissue and then just threw it on the floor. The worst thing is, he expected me to pick it up for him.” – thunderfart_99

“The couple sat down at a table with a cake (which hadnt been served it) and each took a fork and started to eat it.”

“They did not cut the cake into a piece for themselves, but went back and forth with forks to mouths and to cake, smacking and slurping. Nobody else wanted any cake.” – fraubrennessel

Never mind basic house etiquette. 

“The neighbor’s kid came in with dirt all over his feet and then wiped them on the carpet. Never did get the stain out.” – kwaters1

“My son’s friend (middle school) opened all the yogurts in my refrigerator. Didn’t eat then, just opened all the tinfoil lids.” – lennybriscoforthewin

“My sister use to stop over, drink my beer, steal my wife’s clothes, make a mess, then leave.”

“We changed the locks, so she’d steal my parents key to get in, so we stopped giving them one and somehow she’d still get in, like a d**n cockroach.”

“We have since moved far out of her visiting range.” – jonsacreep

“My brother used to do this. He would eat all of my food, clog my toilet with his massive shits, and then veg out on the couch for hours playing COD on my PS3.”

“Talking to him about it did nothing. I eventually just had to change my locks and he started doing the same thing to my poor mom.” – gil_beard

Some went so far, they should have been arrested.

“When I was in college and living at my dad’s house still, he would go out of town every other week or so.”

“Had some friends over when I had the place to myself one night, and a friend of a friend put her cigarette out in the flower boxes (full of mulch/soil) hanging from the windows by the back porch.”

“It smoldered overnight and started a fire, and I woke up to the house filled with smoke and a charred up back door.” – Gandalf**kyourself

“I invited a friend to ‘predrink’ at my parents’ house (in our 20s so my parents were fine with it).”

“He showed up completely obliterated, while my parents were there and dropped a small baggie of cocaine in front of them. He then proceeded to ask where the washroom was.”

“Needless to say, that was a pretty tame night for me, as my parents sent him packing. I had no idea about his coke habit, just for the record.” – Gone_cognito

“My friend’s wife came out of our master bathroom and let us know she ‘borrowed’ some pain meds she found in the medicine cabinet. She then slept on the couch for most of the visit.” – KeepingBalance

“A ‘friend’ asked to stay with me for a few days because she was having relationship problems. Turns out the relationship problems were all down to the fact she had a massive coke habit and her boyfriend was fed up with her spending all their money on it.”

“The first night she invited 5 people who I didn’t know around after I’d gone to bed and I had work the next day. Then she just disappeared for 3 days and went on a bender, I had her boyfriend calling me worried sick and nobody knew where she was.”

“When she finally turned up, she called me a s**tty friend for not covering for her. She didn’t even ask me to! Yeah, we’re not friends anymore.” – dd2487

It might be really fun to have guests over, but according to these Redditors, there are some potential problems that come with guests who don’t understand boundaries or proper etiquette.

Though we’re likely see some strange behavior from a guest at some point, hopefully we won’t experience any of the more shocking instances described here.

People Share The Saddest Historical Facts They Know

They say history is written by the victors, but who would ever want to write about some of these tales?

The hardest truths to read about are the saddest ones, where terrible tragedies and awful atrocities happened to real-life people.

Maybe reading about them in hindsight will make things easier? Or maybe it’ll just make you happy you live in the era you do now.

Reddit user, moseich, wanted to feel the feels when they asked:

“What historical fact makes you cry?”

Good Dogs, Sad Dogs

“WW1- Mercy dogs, they would go out into no mans land and find wounded soldiers. They would bring medical supplies for the soldiers to patch themselves up.”

“Or if the soldier was to mortally wounded, stay and comfort them in their final moments.” ~ Lucky-daydreamer

Soldiers Wanting To Share In The Haunting Tunes

“I learned about this in a Dan Carlin podcast. During the German-Soviet war, there was a Red Army soldier who sang each night with a hauntingly-beautiful voice. His comrades would give him their tea rations and scarves to protect his larynx.”

“One night, he couldn’t sing because he had gotten sick.”

“A German soldier crawled across no-man’s-land and tossed something into the Soviet trench; the Soviet soldiers thought it was a grenade.”

“However, it was a package containing a letter asking if the singer was okay and if he needed medicine. A truly heart-warming moment in an otherwise horrific front.” ~ Scruffy_Nerf_Hoarder

A Good Pet Until The Very End

“The story of Alex (1977-2007), an African grey parrot who learned to speak, recognize objects and play with his owner. It was one of the smartest parrots ever reported.”

“He loved his owner and his owner adored him as well.”

“In the end, he suffered arteriosclerosis, so his owner went to see him one last time, to which Alex told his owner: ‘You are good; I love you.’ She replied, ‘I love you too’.”

“Alex said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ and the owner replied ‘yes, I’ll see you tomorrow’.” ~ metal_gearmen

One Minute Gone

“Henry Gunther was an American soldier killed during WWI at 10:59am on November 11th, 1918; one minute before the Armistice took effect at 11:00am.”

“Gunther charged a German roadblock outfitted with machine guns. German soldiers tried waving him off knowing the war would come to an end in mere moments.”

“Apparently he got too close, fired a couple rounds, and was promptly shot and killed instantly.” ~ _DMYZ

Oh, America, You Disappoint Us…

“The Sand Creek massacre is particularly bad. They had so much faith in the peace treaties that had been signed, the signs of good faith from American settlers.”

“Only to be massacred. The leader of the camp, Black Kettle, desperately holding up the American flag he’d been given with a white flag underneath it, encouraging his people to gather around it—thinking that the [United States Army] would realize they were allies and stop the killings. Only to be shot down.”

“The descriptions of the massacre are brutal—children tortured and slaughtered, pregnant women with their children torn out of their stomachs. Genitals torn from corpses and taken for trophies.”

“It really made me realize you can never underestimate the cruelty of mankind. Especially considering most of the murdered in this massacre were defenseless women, children, and elderly.” ~ Lia_Is_Lying

Survived By Being Out For The Day

“There were approximately 300 infants and children that were murdered in Jonestown, being forcibly fed or injected with cyanide. I feel so much pain for all the victims but the kids in particular make me ache with despair.” ~ Lastofherkind

“There were some teens that weren’t among the number, because they were gone playing a basketball tournament.” ~ qualitygravedigger

Couldn’t Fit This Into The Play

“When Alexander Hamilton’s eldest son died, his second child Angelica Hamilton had a mental breakdown and she never recovered. Sometimes, her family would walk into a room with only her in it, and she would be speaking to her dead brother.” ~ meenakshi96

“The Light Has Gone…”

“Teddy Roosevelt’s mother Mittie and his wife Alice, who had just given birth days before, both died in the same house on the same day, hours apart from each other. In his diary entry that day, he drew a large black X and scribbled ‘The light has gone out of my life’.”

“That’s some heavy sh*t right there, man.” ~ fracking_toasters_

Sharing Each Other’s Humanity

“Christmas Day, 1914. German and British soldiers got up from their trenches and called a 48 hour truce to just chill and even play soccer.”

“This makes me cry because it shows that the soldiers of both sides really found it pointless to fight other people just cause their country said so. This is probably the strongest story of unity I’ve heard about in history class.” ~ Electoriad

Keeping Your Honor Even In War

“In WWII an American pilot named Charles Brown was flying a B-17 in a bomb raid over Germany where his aircraft was severely shot up and entered a free fall when Brown passed out. When Brown awoke, he was only a few thousand feet above the ground and barely was able to recover the aircraft.”

“When the Luftwaffe spotted a limping B-17 far below the formation, they dispatched a pilot named Franz Stigler, a soon to be ace just 1 kill away, with 2 Downed B-17s earlier that day. As he approached from the rear, Stigler noticed that the B-17s tail gunner didn’t move and after further inspection, realized he and several other gunners were dead. Stigler saw this and remembered what his flight instructor had said years ago, ‘if you shoot a man in a parachute, ill shoot you myself’.”

“Stigler saw this limping B-17 as no different from a downed pilot in a parachute. To prevent German flak cannons from taking it out, Stigler flew in formation with the B-17 all the way until the English Channel where it landed safely. Stigler never mentioned the incident, and could’ve been court martialed for it.”

“Decades later, Charles went looking for the enemy pilot that saved his life that fateful day, and eventually met him face to face, becoming close friends and dying just a few months apart from each other in 2008.” ~ OleRockTheGoodAg

History can be a harsh critic, leaving you feeling like all of time is a cruel place.

May we all make the best choices we can to make sure history looks back on us with kind eyes.

Overthinkers Break Down The Craziest Scenarios They’ve Prepared For

Overthinkers sometimes get a bad rap for wasting energy on scenarios that never happen.

But the joke is on the haters.

Because with all of life’s unpredictabilities, those who are well prepared for any curveballs wind up coming out on top.

Looking to portray them in a positive light, Redditor lawofdox18 asked:

“Overthinkers of Reddit, what unlikely scenario actually came true that you were completely prepared for because you are an overthinker?”

Some overthinkers helped prevent sartorial disasters.

Sew Prepared

“I always carry a small sewing kit whenever I go to a wedding. I have sewed two brides into their dresses so far!” – soufflegirl55

Don’t Mock Pack Rats

“All the teachers at the Middle School I taught at knew I was a pack rat and one day a kid split his pants and the school counselor came to me and said ‘Mr. Thehogdog, would you happen to have a pair of sweats or gym pants in your truck’. YEP.”

“So the the kid spent the rest of the day in a pair of nylon pants I had behind my seat. He is lucky because if he didnt fit he would have spent the rest of the day in a white disposable ‘coverall’ I had in case I had car trouble in nice clothes.”

“Icing on the cake: It was a student I really liked who was super helpful to other kids and teachers, so it was nice to do something nice for him.”

“I also carried a ‘Swiss Army’ brand soft side brief case (yard sale find) STUFFED and it had a few of each size of battery.”

“One day Phil Niekro and 2 Braves players were there for an assembly and Phil’s mic battery was dying so I SPRINTED upstairs to my classroom, grabbed a 9 volt from my bag, then basically rolled across the panel and switched out his battery and got back to the PA avoiding getting on TV News cameras.” – thehogdog

If it weren’t for these angels in disguise, there would have been grave consequences.

The Life Saver

“My boyfriend who has zero history of seizures narrowly escaped dying from one because my overthinking led me to break into his house when he didn’t answer the phone.”

“My overthinking had begun a few nights prior. He mentioned that he but his tongue in his sleep and woke up with a bloody pillow and sore mouth- but he had no memory of it happening.”

“That for some reason led my overthinking brain to question ‘Wow, did he have a seizure and not realize it?’ He has zero history of seizures, and we had been together multiple years (didn’t live together but spent nights together) and I had never seen a hint of a seizure. But for some reason, this stuck in my mind.”

“Fast forward two days. We usually don’t hang out in the morning because he likes to sleep in late, but on this day we had an appointment to go see a specific dog at the shelter I was thinking of adopting.”

“He wouldn’t answer the phone that morning. I called multiple times before I went to his place, but he never picked up. I started getting a bad feeling but quelled the ‘He’s having a seizure’ thought, because that was clearly SO unlikely, meanwhile making an action plan for that very scenario.”

“I got to his house and he wouldn’t answer, so in a completely NOT ME crazy girlfriend move, I climbed over his fence. Luckily his door was unlocked.”

“I found him unconscious and unresponsive, lying in his back with the sticky remnants of foam all around his mouth.”

“I jumped into action- I rolled him on his side to help curb aspiration, put a pillow under his shoulder to keep him in that position, and called the ambulance.”

“Had I not hopped the fence to get in- had I not driven over when he didn’t pick up the phone- had we not had plans to meet up hours earlier than we usually did- he would have been dead by lunch. His kidneys were already shutting down by the time he reached the ER.”

“If he had never mentioned biting his tongue in his sleep, I don’t think I would have been overthinking at all. No crazy worries about seizures would have pushed me to go over and find him.”

“Turns out to be a weird brain disease that’s bizarrely endemic to New Mexico kind of- cerebral cavernous malformations.”

“Several days later, after we got home from the hospital, I got a call from a friend who said the dog, against all odds, was still at the shelter- as in the very dog we were supposed to be seeing that day.”

“I had given up hope on getting her, pushed it out of my priorities while he was hospitalized- but they had forgotten to take down my 24 Hour Hold sign on her cage, so no one inquired about her.”

“She’s now our miracle dog and is the sweetest animal I’ve ever owned. My boyfriend wouldn’t be alive today if we hadn’t made an appointment to meet her.” – unicoroner

Tending To An Injured Elderly Woman

“Was at one of those trampoline parks with my kid when I look over and see several of the workers attending to an elderly lady sitting on the floor. Turns out she’d taken a shot to the forehead somehow and was bleeding profusely.”

“They were trying to help with paper towels. Well I’d taken a free local Stop the Bleed class “just in case” and since have kept supplies in my truck.”

“Asked if they needed some gauze and a bandage, went and got it, and brought it back. I told the guy, ‘Now if one piece of gauze fills up -‘ He interrupted, ‘Take it off and put on a new one.’ I said, ‘No! You put another one overtop that one, but leave the bottom one there.’ He said, ‘Well, you know more than I do. Come over and help.’ We were able to get her patched up.” – nchiker

Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, these overthinkers had the perfect tricks up their sleeves.

A Convenient Tool

“I didn’t actually plan for this, it just worked out. But one day for some reason I put a suction cup in my pocket. I can’t exactly remember why – it was from a shower hook that I think broke (?) and I put it in my pocket hoping to find a replacement or something.”

“Later that day I was standing around with a few friends and one friend was lamenting that his bumper was dented. He showed us and said, ‘I bet I could pop it right out if I had like a suction cup or something.’”

“I wordlessly pulled the suction cup out of my pocket and handed it to him. Everyone definitely thought I was creepy as hell.” – Wishyouamerry

The Best Kid In Class

“I remember one day in school a teacher was complaining someone had tied her blinds so tightly she couldn’t get them to open or close.”

“Me being the weird kid, I ask her if she wanted a screwdriver to get it undone. She looked at me like I was crazy and a little scared as I reached into my wallet and pulled out this tiny screwdriver from those tiny finger bmx/skateboards and handed it over.”

“Everyone thought I was crazy and my teacher laughed in relief when she saw it. Everyone thought i was weird until I told them I used it to tighten the screws on my glasses.”

“They were constantly unscrewing themselves and I was sick of having to go to the opticians every time it happened. Obviously the solution was to carry a tiny screwdriver with me!” – Zanki

Mom’s Supply

“Not me, but my mother.”

“Apparently at a party where my parents and their friends were playing board games, there was a realization that an hourglass was missing from one of the games they planned on playing. My mother proceeded to reach into her purse and pull out an hourglass she just so happened to bring, on the off chance they didn’t have one.”

“HOWEVER, later in the night when some drinks had been had, someone accidentally slammed a drink down, breaking my mother’s hourglass. Without missing a beat, she reached into her purse and pulled out ANOTHER hourglass.”

“She knew the first one, being glass, might get broken so she had a backup ready.” – BustyChicken

Mock them if you will, but you can’t argue with the fact overthinkers have got it covered.

Think about it.

If you were stuck on an island, wouldn’t you want to be with an overthinker?

Just saying.