Category: life

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

People Share The Best Life Hacks They Know

Life hacks have been the Pinterest mood board of the year ever since all we could do for 2020 was sit at home and figure out ways to make our lives a little easier.

Urban Dictionary tells us that a “Life Hack” is:

“A tool or technique that makes some aspect of one’s life easier or more efficient.”

Mommy blogs love them too.

Who said taking the easy way out had to be a bad thing anyway?

Redditor synthesezia asked:

“Reddit, what are your best lifehacks?”

Closet Hacks.

“Putting my clothes in my closet with the hangers reversed once a year. As I pull clothes out, I reverse the hanger. Every year I give away any clothes that I never took out.” – elblanco

“I do something similar. I put all the clothes I hang up each week on the left side of the closet, with each week sliding everything right to make room. Eventually the stuff I don’t wear makes its way to the right. That’s the stuff I ditch.” – keebler980

“Related to this, the most recent time I moved, I only took things out of boxes on an as-needed basis. After 6 months, anything that was still in a box got either thrown away or given to Goodwill.” – crazyeight

For those of us with a bad memory.

“When you need to remember to bring something with you, put your car keys on it the night before…” – drewlb

“What if it’s your car keys you need to remember… cries.” – Redditor

“I usually put things I need to remember on top of or in my shoes.” – nunobo

“Try a basket by the door, in which you always put your keys/wallet/what have you as soon as you walk in. This is what I do. I never lose my keys (I still do lock myself out of my car though. Usually on or right before dates).” – Redditor

Academia life hacks.

“Here is a lifehack for all of the students out there. If you are charged with writing a lengthy research paper, find one very solid source that directly pertains to your thesis, and then you can use that source’s bibliography to back into locating new sources.” – Fonix79

“One of my professors says that it’s perfectly acceptable and done all the time in academia. Furthermore, you’re under no obligation to credit the source you used to find the bibliography unless you use something directly in that article.”

“Last, but not least, they have already written out the bibliography entry for you!” – Anonymous999

“For anyone just starting university, or grad school, in a program where you will write many papers: put EVERYTHING you ever read or remotely think will be useful into a bibliography database like Endnote (for Word users) or BibTeX.”

“You can pdf almost everything to a massive folder and link to it.”

“Then, not only is the info at your finger tips for however long you’re in school, but the software writes the bibliography for you.”

“NO idea why schools aren’t teaching this alongside general advice on writing all sorts of term papers…” – dolichoblond

Avoid debt as much as possible.

“Never owe money on a car and never carry a Credit Card balance. It makes my life way easier and it is my way of saying F*ck You to the debt encouraging system we live in.” – cheddarben

“It’s amazing (and very, very sad) when you realize how few people actually do this.” – vtdweller

“I can’t agree enough with the credit card thing.”

“About 5 years out of college I had roughly 15k of credit card debt. I’d pay double the minimum and slowly work them down, only to run them up again when I wanted/needed something.”

“It took me three years, but I finally got it all paid off and haven’t run up anything higher than a thousand or so since then.”

“The trick is to consolidate. Put all your bills on one card.”

“Make sure to call around and get the best possible balance transfer rate for the longest. (I lucked out at something like 1% until it was paid off).”

“Then, take all the money you were paying on all the separate cards, plus a little extra, and hit it hard.”

“(For the geeky among you, imagine it as using a super-powerful attack month after month to reduce the health bar of your debt.)”

“It took about $500 a month, which made things tight, but doable.”

“The best part was that once the debt is paid, you’ve gotten accustomed to living in that -$500 a month fashion, and find yourself with an extra $500 in your pocket (or savings) each month.”

“So when you do want/need to spend, you’ve got the cash on hand.” – fffuuuu-na-mana

Get paid to use the toilet.

“Poop at work. You’ll be using less of your own tp and more of your company’s time.”

“I started going into the john to play games on my cell phone for 5-10 minutes just to take a break; while I was in there I’d pinch one out.”

“After a few weeks I realized that I hadn’t replaced my own tp at my apartment in a while.” – Redditor

“And you get paid for that sh*t.” – Redditor

“I prefer to call it ‘professional defecation.’” – De_Draad

“I did the math on this, I make about 30 dollars annually just for sh*tting.” – sambowilkins

Have an extra bag in your car.

“Back when I was 18-26, I always had one full bag packed in my car. It generally had clean underwear, a t-shirt or two, jeans, shorts, flops, and toothbrush/deodorant.”

“I can’t tell you how many times I’d just meet up with some friends and next thing you know it was 2AM and I needed a place to sleep. Having everything with me was awesome.” – ChrisF79

“‘What you invited Chris? Dude that guy sits around after everyone else has left and then suddenly is surprised that its 2am.”

“But no worries, he has a freeloader bag packed in the car. Hope you have lots of food in the fridge. You’ll need it.’”

“Just kidding.” – fdat

“Slightly different structure to mine, but I do something similar. Under the back seat of each of my trucks I have a roll of clothes.”

“T-shirt, pair of jeans, socks, and undies. The difference is, instead of a bag, I have it tightly wrapped up in stretch wrap.”

“It’s like kitchen saran wrap but we use it in receiving to wrap bundles / pallets. The benefits are it keeps it super compact and effectively watertight.”

“The times I’ve had to crack one open often have been because my current clothes got either soaked or dirty working, so nice and dry was a huge benefit.” – vetteboy

Meal prep is the way to go.

“Make lunch for work the night before.”

“1. Groceries are way cheaper than eating out every day – f*ck anyone who thinks you’re lame because you don’t have a Timmyho bagel or BK for lunch everyday. I’m saving 4-5$ per meal.”

“2. Not making lunch the morning makes the morning that much smoother.” – flatlander30

“I take the ‘make lunch for work the night before’ one step further:”

“Make the guts of your sandwiches for the whole week on Sunday. Sandwich your meat, mayo, mustard in between two slices of cheese, pop each one in a ziplock.”

“On your way out the door in the morning, toss in two slices of bread and you’re good to go.” – gertrude104

Eat before shopping.

“Never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.” – Redditor

“Or the reverse – always go when you’re hungry. I find I buy more grocery stuff, so my kitchen is more full, causing me to eat out less often. Larger initial investment, but overall investment is smaller.” – clunkclunk

“Yeah, but you buy sh*t that you would NEVER buy otherwise. It’s like picking up people when you’re drunk and horny….your inhibitions and judgement flies out the window and everything looks good.”

“Going shopping hungry is the reason that I’ve had a can of ‘gravy and meatballs’ in my pantry for two years.” – weirdboobs

Fear might be a good motivator.

“If there’s something big I want to get done, I tell all my friends I’m going to do it. The fear of looking like an a** helps keep me motivated.” – munificent

“That is how I quit smoking. In addition to telling all my friends and family, I put on my whiteboard at the office the number of days I went without a cigarette in addition to the last time I had one.”

“Last Cigarette: October 17th 2008 6:30 AM Time Since Then: <some value>”

“Every time I increased the number, I felt a small victory. At some point changing the value everyday just became a habit and somewhat trivial.”

“At 100 days or so, I started putting weeks instead of days.”

“Not only did it keep me accountable, people would occasionally see it while in my office and tell me ‘good job!’”

“While I knew they had no idea how incredibly hard it was to quit, knowing that people recognized my effort fueled me even further.”

“At some point, I finally stopped remember to change the number every Friday (70+ weeks).”

“Currently, I do not know how long it has been since I have had a cigarette, but I can tell you the exact time I had my last one.” – dulper

Getting out of bed.

“In the morning I practically jump right out of bed, go and wash my face with cold water. Then I jump back into bed and listen to music while I’m waking up.”

“I’ve found this a lot easier than just lying there waiting to wake up naturally. I can just hop out of bed right away, knowing that I’ll be back in just a minute, and then the water wakes me right up.”

“Before I used to do this I’d just lay there like a sloth, moaning in my head about how tired I am etc… I’ve found this trick to be a good happy-medium.” – cocasyn

“I set morning alarms ten minutes apart. When the first one goes off, I grab a piece of caffeine gum that I keep on my nightstand, chew it for about fifteen seconds and get rid of it.”

“Fall back asleep. When the second one goes off, getting out of bed is not only easy, but exciting.” – Redditor

“Definitely agree with this. Be sure to have a good pump up song on the ready to.”

“Something that either makes you smile or one you would have on at the gym. And I love a good face rinse, just feels…right.” – SloppyJoMo

“I used to have my computer set up to start playing a specific iTunes playlist on the stereo at a certain time. The playlist was exactly as long as I had in the morning and went from chill songs to more energetic.”

“Throughout my morning routine, I could always tell how I was doing on time by the currently playing song.” – munificent

We don’t always do things the easy way.

In a time where the little things can seem extra difficult given everything that’s been going on, we might as well take some advice from stranger and make our lives a little more pleasant.

Posted on

People Share Facts That Could Actually Save Someone’s Life

For most of our younger existence it feels like survival is just a given and life is forever.

But that truth is soon turned into myth when you realize life is fragile and death can be whenever and wherever.

The good news is we can all be capable of saving ourselves and others in any given situation just by acquiring some basic knowledge and necessary facts.

Any knowledge is good knowledge, whether it’s how to fight a crazed gunman with a twig or the heimlich maneuver.

So get your pads and pencils out kids, time to study triage.

Redditor danikm10 wanted to us all to be prepared so they asked:

“What is a little known fact that can save a life?”

Head Above Water At All Times

“You can still drown up to 72 hours after a non-fatal drowning or other aquatic incident via water remaining in your lungs afterwards and causing edema (swelling).”

“Shortness of breath, wheezing or raspy breathing, chest pain are all signs to look for and one should get medically checked out ASAP.”

“Even without any symptoms after a near-drowning/aquatic incident it is highly recommended.”

“Source: science and 10-year Lifeguard/First Aid Instructor Trainer.”  ~ YourFriendlyUncle

It’s still coming for you…

“If a tornado looks like it’s still, it’s moving towards you.” ~ Reddit

“When we stayed in Tx, we had a little rack that held empty pop cans.”

“Usually when a tornado was brewing, the air pressure would be great enough to start crumpling the cans. I found it fascinating.” ~ osirisrebel

“Learned that one that hard way as a kid.”

“My grandma thought it was a regular dust devil until she realized that it wasn’t getting smaller, and it was picking crap up to throw.”  ~ ClancyHabbard

Good catch Sir

“My mom had a dentist appointment a while back. With novocaine still in effect, she headed to the gym for a workout (this was pre-COVID).”

“One of the trainers greeted her, and when she responded with a slightly lopsided smile and slurred speech, he immediately was concerned and asked her to raise both her arms.”

“It took her a second, but then she realized he was thinking she may have been having a stroke.”

“She explained that she’d been to the dentist, and they both got a laugh out of it. But kudos to that trainer.”

“He’s an observant guy, and he might save a life someday.”  ~ Reddit

Be the Spotter!

“That drowning people don’t flail around and scream.”

“This is why there are usually spotters (the guys and girls in the chairs) and rescue (the guys and girls on the shore/around the edge).”

“Spot the person who comes up and goes down rather than the screaming flailing people who are playing.”  ~ ModsAreHallMonitors

“Secondary drowning, or “dry drowning”, is a serious concern for those rescued from a near drowning as well.”

“If it’s believed the victim has taken any water in their lungs at all, they need to be checked out at the hospital.” ~ NorCalShasta

It’s All Elementary my dears…

“Learn the elementary backstroke. It’s a stroke that requires less energy to swim. Lay on your back. Keep your chest inflated to stay afloat.”  ~ Lark_Iron_Cloud

“Just a backfloat will work. I barely learned to swim in high school, but I got the elementary backstroke down and could do a frog kick decently.”

“Plus they were teaching survival swimming/drownproofing. I hope something like that is still around.”  ~ Sirius_J_Moonlight

Bright Colors and Twilight!

“Preferably wear neon orange if going in the woods.”

“Same for all the joggers, bicyclists and walkers-Including your dog- so many people appear as dappled shadows when you’re driving-all times of the day not just in twilight.”

“I’ve had some scary moments avoiding people and oncoming traffic!” ~ pickalelly

“Dude I have some idiots in my neighborhood.”

“Like to go on walks at like 4am/2am/11pm… freaking whenever it’s dark.”

“I’ve almost ran them over 10+ times because they also like to walk in the middle right side or right middle right side of the lane (to far into the street to be safe).”

“And they where black clothes.” ~ oreo_milktinez

Mixing and matching can be a mess…

“Do not mix household chemicals unless you know specifically what the result will be.”

“Specifically do not mix bleach with anything other than water.” ~ surprise_me_today

“My cat peed on the floor on our concrete basement and my dad (not exactly a science major) was like “pour bleach on it”.”

“So I, being 12, did. I poured bleach onto highly distilled ammonia.”

“I stopped being able to breathe, didn’t know why. I closed the bottle and ran upstairs with my lungs absolutely burning my head aching.”

“I closed that door to keep my cat out of it but refused to go back in.”

“When my mom came home I told her about it and she freaked out.”

“I felt really bad like I did something wrong and my mom just yells up the stairs.”

“YOU TRIED TO GAS OUR DAUGHTER YOU DUMB FOOL!!”  ~ LadyCashier

Keep the Mouth Clear!

“Do NOT put anything in the mouth of someone having a seizure.”

“They cannot choke on their own tongue, but they can choke on a wallet, belt, etc.”

“DO turn them on their side, time the seizure, and call 911 (or your local emergency services if not in America).”  ~ phoria

“Also, check to see if they’re wearing a medical ID bracelet or necklace, or if they have anything with an emergency contact number on it. (Some phones have a medical ID feature, for example.)”

“Often times, they won’t need to go to the hospital and ambulances are stupid expensive in America.”

“If possible, call their emergency contact first.”

“The ambulance should be called if there are many seizures in a row, if the seizure lasts for more than 5 minutes.”

“If they are severely injured themselves during the seizure, or if it is the person’s first known seizure.” ~ Violet112358

Survival is Messy!

“CPR is nasty. 2 inches of compression will break ribs and mash the insides of the chest cavity.”

“It feels gross, it sounds gross, it looks gross, and it’s freaking HARD.”

“There is no way to comfortably give CPR.” ~ Reddit

No Pulling!

“If you get stabbed by something don’t pull it out.” ~ dietderpsy

Well that is a lot to digest.

And a lot to incorporate into my brain. I pray to never have to use any of this.

Being stabbed and drowning haunt my dreams. Of course now I have eight new things to haunt me, but I’m better prepared.

Life is fragile, doesn’t mean we have to be.

Posted on

People Break Down The Best Free Things On The Internet Not Enough People Know About

Fact: People love free… and also people are suspicious of it.

We’re all so used to getting spammed, ending up in a time-share meeting, or getting added to yet another call list when we hear “free” we kind of cringe.

The up-side of that caution is only getting five calls about your car’s extended warranty this week, not the 20 that your friend got.

The down-side of avoiding anything that claims to be free is that you’re missing out on some legitimate internet awesomeness!

Reddit user MuddiDK asked: 

“What is something free from the internet, which everyone should take advantage of?”

So get ready to take some screenshots (they work better if you actually use them) so we can get you ballin’ on a budget.

We’re talking intellectual ballin’, creative ballin’, career ballin’—the internet is seriously FILLED with free ways to upgrade yourself.

You Want Books? You Got Books. 

“There are tons and tons of free ebooks available online, a huge variety of stuff. Even free audiobooks.”

“I created r/FreeEBOOKS to help people find stuff they can get for free and am including some lists I’ve compiled by topic below:”

“These lists are from Project Gutenberg which is a great source for free ebooks in the public domain on a wide variety of topics. If you want other stuff check out r/FreeEBOOKS :)”

“250+ books by or about US Presidents“

“300 science fictions short stories“

“200 more science fiction short stories“

“50 free books on etiquette“

“115 free fairy tale books“

“100 free mythology books“

“250 free kids and YA books“

“200 free sci-fi books“

“100 free classics“

“100 free Christmas ebooks“

“100 free poetry ebooks“

“100 free history ebooks“

“100 free memoirs and autobiographies“

“50 free mysteries“

“100 free books about pirates“

“70 books about space and astronomy“

“200 books about cooking and housekeeping“

“50 historical books about childbirth and sexual health“

“175 medical books“

“50 free craft books“

“100 free gardening books“

“Free assigned summer reading books“

“60 free ebooks about adventure and exploration in the Arctic and at the South Pole“

“100 free books of ghost stories“

“100 more free mythology ebooks“

“50 free horror books“

“30 free Arthurian legends“

“180 free Christmas ebooks“

“100 free books of essays“

“50 free ebooks about inventions and inventors“

“100 unusual or very specific history books“

“250 books by or about US presidents“

“Free audiobook collections from Librivox:”

“50 free classic audiobooks“

“50 more free classic audiobooks“ – Chtorr

All This Stuff

“Audacity -A powerful audio editor, ideal for music and podcasts.”

“Autodesk Fusion 360 -CAuD/CAM software.”

“Bit Warden -Open-source password management service.”

“Blender – Free and open source 3D creation suite.”

“Cake Walk – music production software”

“Dark Table – Open-source photography workflow application and raw developer.”

“Dashlane -Cross-platform subscription-based password manager and digital wallet application.”

“DaVinci Resolve -Color correction and non-linear video editing application.”

“FreeCAD -open-source general-purpose parametric 3D computer-aided design modeler.”

“GIMP -A powerful open source photo and image editing tool.”

“Godot Engine -a 2D and 3D, cross-platform, free and open-source game engine released under the MIT license.”

“Glitch – Build fast, full-stack web apps in your browser.”

“Glimpse Image Editor – A photo editor for everyone.”

“Greenshot -A free screenshot tool optimized for productivity.”

“Handbrake -the open source video transcoder”

“Honey -a browser extension that aggregates and automatically applies online coupons on eCommerce websites.”

“Hitfilm-Express -Video editing software with professional-grade VFX tools.”

“Inkscape – Free and open-source vector graphics editor.”

“KDEnLive -open-source video editing software based on the MLT Framework, KDE and Qt.”

“Keepass -free and open-source password manager primarily for Windows.”

“Krita -Free and open-source raster graphics editor designed primarily for digital painting and 2D animation.”

“Open Broadcaster Software(OBS) – open-source software for video recording and live streaming.”

“LibreOffice -Open-source office suite.”

“LMMS -a digital audio workstation application program.”

“MagicaVoxel -A free lightweight GPU-based voxel art editor and interactive path tracing renderer.”

“MediBang Paint Pro -FREE digital painting and comic creation software.”

“Musescore -Create, play and print beautiful sheet music”

“Ocenaudio – Easy, fast, and powerful audio editor.”

“Opentoonz – animation production software.”

“Paint.NET -a freeware raster graphics editor program for Microsoft Windows developed on the .NET Framework”

“Photopea -Web-based raster and vector graphics editor.”

“Pixlr – Feature-packed online photo editor.”

“QGIS -open-source cross-platform desktop geographic information system application”

“Radio Garden – Explore live radio by rotating the globe.”

“RawTherapee – free, cross-platform raw image processing program”

“Reaper -Digital audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software”

“ShareX -Screen capture, file sharing and productivity tool.”

“Shotcut -A slick open source program for advanced video editing.”

“SlidesGo -Free Google Slides and PowerPoint templates.”

“Switch -Convert and encode sound files quickly.”

“The Noun Project – Icons for everything.”

“TurboTax Sucks Ass – website that makes it easy to file your taxes.”

“Unity -cross-platform game engine.”

“Unreal Engine – the most open and advanced real-time 3D creation tool.”

“Unsplash – Beautiful free images and pictures.”

“VLC media player -open-source portable cross-platform media player software and streaming media server”

“VS Code -free source-code editor.”

“Waveform – fully featured, completely unlimited free DAW for all music creators.”

“Wavepad -Audio and music editor for Windows and Mac.”

“Wcostream – anime and animated Tv-show/movie site with dubs and subs.”

“7-Zip – file archiver with a high compression ratio”

“> Some learning material:”

“Codecademy – free sessions and exercises for any coding language.”

“Coursera – Online courses & Certifications.( Not all courses/certifications are free, but worth it)”

“Cybrary – The Cybersecurity and IT Career Development Platform”

“Edx – Online courses & Certifications.( Not all courses/certifications are free, but worth it)”

“FreeCodeCamp – Learn to code at home.”

“Goal Kicker – Free programming books in any language.”

“Khan Academy -a non-profit educational organization.”

“Learn with Google – Courses and certifications from Google.”

“Learn with Microsoft on Edx (Free) – Courses from Microsoft.”

“MDN Web Docs – Resources for developers, by developers.”

“MIT courses -MIT’s OpenCourseware.”

“Octave -software featuring a high-level programming language, primarily intended for numerical computations. Basically free MatLab Alternative”

“R- programming language -free software environment for statistical computing and graphics”

“Repl.it – Code and collaborate, without friction.” – beef_boss_

This Cure For Calculus

“Wolfram Alpha.”

“I don’t know if it’s already been said, but Wolfram Alpha was a lifesaver for checking answers when taking Calculus 1-3 in college.”

“It’s definitely useful for all sorts of answers, but specifically when it comes to answers for science and math questions, it’s great.” – xSlippyFistx

“I owe a good amount of my engineering degree to this platform right here. Our school even had the premium version for students.” – AFB27

“Yes! I use it with my students. Such a great resource.” – RustedRelics

Scholarly Sources

“Google Scholar.”

“If you type that in and then look up any thing you want the results are all scholarly work.”

“For example, if you type in volcanos you will get an absolute ton of scientific documents about volcanos, any research that is being done on them, any papers that have been written about them and any data you might want. It’s all right there.”

“While it is true that some sources require payment, if you’re a college student and you have a student email you should be able to access a lot of the information. Next time you write a paper for a science class check out google scholar!” – Objective_Reality232

WikiWiki

“Wikipedia. We take that site for granted, big time.”

“There are few things in this world that do NOT have a Wikipedia page at this point. People have dedicated hours, days, even their entire lives, to filling the site up with all the knowledge one could ever need.”

“All that information is free!” 

“Want to learn about the history of the escalator? Wikipedia has it.”

“Interested in the Civil War? You bet you can find it on Wikipedia.”

“Wikipedia will not be around forever, folks. Use it while you have it.”

“Read random articles. It’s fun.” – [Reddit]

Learn Stuff!

“Online courses and guides. The fact that you can learn anything for FREE at home, is amazing.”

“Like 40 years ago, you had to actually pay for lessons and go away from your home. Nowadays you can do everything online.”

“Want to learn knitting: You got it!”

“Want to learn to speak a foreign language: You got that too!”

“Want to study for an upcoming test: You can, but you probably won’t!”

“Isn’t the internet just amazing!” – WitheredGone

You’re Entitled To Your History

“I found out I have confederate ancestors through findagrave, and have used it to build a family tree going back to the 1700s.”

“Pro Tip: African Americans get discouraged when building family trees because of the perceived lack of records, but please use:”

“censusrecords.com”

“findagrave.com.”

“and the national parks civil war veterans registry.”

“Black confederate veteran’s pension records will be kept at the state archives, and are not attached to the national registration, which gives branch, regiment, company, and state.”

“Confederatevets.org, might have clearer information. Black confederates will have less clear records than black Union veterans.”

“You’re working your way backwards with names, states/counties, dates, and other criteria. Please know that the 1850 and 1860 census contain slave schedules, wherein many people find their last name is linked to that of a slave owner, or through an illegal interracial marriage.”

“At that point, much of what remains is diary scraps, ship records, and newspaper scraps such as those found for free on the Chronicling America Project by the Library of Congress.”

“Chronicling America allows sorting by keywords, state, and year range, but be aware a lot of state archives contain out of state papers, and desired papers might need unorthodox searches.”

“As a rule the term ‘negro’, ‘sale’, and the surname of a buyer, owner, auctioneer/seller will offer a trail to a port, or at least a county within a state.” 

“Take screenshots and write things down on physical paper for the best clarity.”

“While local heritage museums might have plantation or ship records (you’ll have to email/phone multiple in a multiple-county area to know) don’t count on these records surviving the city torchings done through the war years.”

“Don’t feel discouraged, because everyone hits a wall eventually when searching through their ancestry.”

“The European wall is about 1550 or later, when last names became common. It’s very common for misspellings, and pre-national language regional languages to muddle names (eg. German v Dutch, Irish v Scottish, Vietnamese v Laotian).”

“The black wall is 1850 much of the time.”

“If your goal is to find African nation ancestry, it’s ultra rare to find it. However, language studies have found that the vast bulk of African diaspora in the New World are from the far western African coastal nations.”

“The dashiki, much of voudoo, Creoles, Ananzi the spider, the roots of soul food, and other legacy practices come from this small-ish region. So Liberia, to the Ivory Coast, Ghana, to Seira Leone, and the northern half of the Congo coast is the ancestral origin point, if that’s your goal.”

“Bantu and French are the cheif languages to look at (not Swahili). If you try to find a specific tribal group or nation, you’re likely not seeing the forest for all the trees.”

“You are entitled to history. It’s yours, take it.” – crumpledcactus

Visualize Your Characters

“Art Breeder. You’re able to mix images together to create something new and keep tweaking it until you get something you like.”

“Personally, I like using it to create characters that look similar to the ones in my head–useful for story writing.” 

“The free version has a limit of five or so images if you want to upload your own, but there’s a huge library of images for browsing through. I like typing in keywords and seeing what comes up and combining those.”

“You just type in whatever keyword you want (or pick one of the ones there), select a photo, then click cross-breed and repeat with another keyword.” – iridescenttropy

So what are you doing in here still reading?

You should be playing with all the free stuff you now know about.

Go! Get your free on!

Posted on

People Explain How A Mistake They Made Actually Made Things Better In The End

We all make mistakes.

Some are bigger than others.

Some errors are massive, having profound ramifications that impact the rest of our lives while others have more limited consequences.

Turns out, though, that not all mistakes are the end of the world—some are the beginning of something fantastic.

Redditor HypnoViber pointed out this phenomenon when they asked: 

“What is a mistake you have made that actually made something better?”

Sometimes, a good hard hit really is the answer. 

“Accidentally backed into a pole at night in my mother’s Taurus.”

“Low speed, no damage, but it was dead center, so in between the reverse lights, I didn’t see it.”

“However, the trunk latch was never sticky again, worked fine after.” ~Speedy-McLeadfoot

Other times, the wrong turn is the right one.

“I work in television.”

“A few years ago I was a background PA (I help set Extras in a TV show and give them their actions).”

“Anyways the scene taking place was that the main character was being checked by a doctor in an office with the door open (weird but I don’t make those decisions).”

“I sent an extra down that hallway and told him to go inside the office to the right – the one across from where the scene was happening.”

“I guess this guy didn’t hear me correctly but during the scene he went into the office where the scene was happening, upon realizing his mistake he played along as if he were part of the scene and gave them an: ‘Oops!’ “

“And the actors reacted to him, making the scene funnier.”

“My boss was quick to yell at me but the director came out and asked who made the decision because it was awesome!”

“Of course my boss stopped yelling.”

“They decided to upgrade the extra and add his line.”

“The man went from getting paid $125 a day to making a bit more than $1k for saying the word Oops!”

“The guy thanked me profusely because he was in desperate need of money and this was going to help him with rent.”

“All throughout the day, he thanked me.”

“My mistake made someone so happy. It made my day.”~SuitableCamel6129

Mistakes, the spice of life!

“I misread a chili recipe that called for tamari (a type of soy sauce) and put tahini (sesame seed paste).”

“It was creamy and delicious!”

“I realized my mistake the next time I made it, but to this day I still put tahini in it.”~HarrisonRyeGraham

More fantastic food flubs. 

“I was making a Moussaka recipe, this one was like… think lasagna, but Greek with slices of eggplant instead of layers of noodles.”

“Trying to help me, for some reason my SO diced the eggplant.”

“We said: ‘F*ck it.’ and continued making what turned out to be more of a Moussaka-like casserole.”

“OMFG it was good!”

“So that’s how we make it.”

“Not filling between layers of eggplant slices, we make it casserole-style.”

“Never even tried to follow the recipe again correctly.”~Sniffs_Markers

The error that keeps on giving. 

“I approached a dude in high school thinking he was someone else I met the other day.”

“(I was new to this school and still learning who people were).”

“I didn’t realize this until days later when he told me.”

“However we became best friends.”

“He eventually introduced me to my future wife who I now have a family with.”

“A simple case of mistaken identity shaped my whole life.”~Actuaryba

Many responses were surprisingly self-aware. 

I got into a drunken street fight a long time ago and ended up getting arrested.”

“I beat one guy up and then pulled a knife on another guy he was with when he tried to intervene.”

“I actually didn’t think it was a big deal after the fight ended as I felt that I had won and just proceeded to walk home.”

“Next thing you know 10 cop cars surrounded me and I was in handcuffs sitting in the back of a police car.”

“It was 100% my fault.”

“I went to a lawyer who said he would help me with the criminal case that came with what I had done, but I had to go to AA.”

“I told him that I didn’t remember much from the previous evening and he explained that I had experienced an ‘alcoholic blackout’ and that I was so inebriated that I stopped recording memories and couldn’t control my behavior.”

“He said that I was an alcoholic and he sees it all the time in clients that come to him for help after drinking and doing something stupid.”

“If this hadn’t happened I probably would have still been drinking every single day and continuing down the path of ruining my life.”

“I ended up going to 50+ AA meetings which gave me a chance to reevaluate my life and have been sober ever since.”~reaverdude

Not all mistakes are life-altering, some just save the day.

“Didn’t mute myself in an online meeting by accident.”

“Told a joke to my friend and because people from the online meeting heard it, they of course laughed and after the meeting one of the participants told me she was having a very hard time because of her depression and that I lifted her mood up.”

“Sh*t was pleasant, ngl”~wriggly_jiggled22

Always read the fine print. 

“In my 20s, when I was unemployed and almost broke, I got a great job offer and was so stoked that I said yes before reading the whole offer letter.”

“A few days later I realized the position they gave me wasn’t at the local office where I had interviewed but was on the other side of the country.”

“Oops.”

“I went for it anyway and it turned out to be a wonderful move.”

“I started life over from scratch, had a ton of fun exploring a new place, made some great friends, and met my wife.”~SagebrushBiker

The wrong note just sounds better.

“As a musician, I have to say it’s every instance of ‘I keep playing this riff I wrote wrong so that’s how it’s played now’.” ~thrashingkaiju

That’s one way to quit?

“I ashed a cigarette in a glass that had a drink in it (don’t ask me why).”

“I accidentally picked it up and took the biggest swig of what I thought was my scotch- I projectile vomited, and never touched another cigarette”~Muriana_of

We all make mistakes.

We run from them, we shun them and we try our hardest to deny them but sometimes what we think of as a misstep is actually a step in the right direction.

Sometimes, our mistakes make us.