Category: life

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People Share Fascinating True Stories About Their Lives

Ready for some good tales?

Believe it or not!

Anytime you hear that phrase, you know you’re in for a good story!

Well, how would you like to enjoy a bunch of true stories that may sound fabricated but are most certainly 100% true?

Today’s your lucky day!

Here are some interesting, true stories from AskReddit users.

1. Your ancestors were interesting people.

“My great great grandfather was a Pinkerton Detective, acted on Vaudeville, and had 5 wives in 2 different states that knew nothing of each other.

He also slightly changed his last name each time and never got caught until Ancestry website happened.”

2. What?!?!?

“I survived a plane crush in the dessert, was trapped there for 2 days, and was rescued by two dudes who were trying to bet if they can cook an egg in the sand.”

3. Childhood accident.

“I lost my heel in a lawn mower accident.

I was 4 at the time and I wont say who exactly did it. But he was mowing and it was a riding mower and the hitch on the back where you can hook a little trailer, I loved to stand on that part and ride.

Well this time I saw a frog in the grass and being the 4 year old I was at the time, I jumped off the mower and onto the grass and put my hands over the frog to catch it and he didnt realize I had jumped off and he backed up.”

4. That’s just crazy.

“I can smell some illnesses and chronic symptoms.

My sense of smell is normally pretty average, but I can sometimes smell if a person is sick before they start showing symptoms, and have been able to identify/predict 2 seizures, a diabetic blood sugar drop, and multiple chronic migraines before they happened.”

5. Big winner!

“I won two TV game shows. “The $10,000 Pyramid” (won $10,300) in 1975, and “Sale of the Century” (was on the show for 9 days; won $34k in cash and prizes) in 1985.”

6. Wrong side of the river.

“I grew up “on the wrong side of the river”, was considered by all to be the town loser, and went to work as a janitor while still in high school.

In my 40s I set a goal for myself (while still working full time) to take one class at time until I either graduate or die, whichever comes first.

At age 49 I finished my Bachelors of Science Degree, at age 52 my MBA, and age 61 my Ph.D. Never let the arrogant elitists define who you are or what you can be!”

7. Out of gas.

“I ran out of gas outside of La Paz Bolivia.

Luckily it was down hill for about 6km into the city. I coasted the whole way on my motorbike, passed busses and drifted into a gas station. Never missed a beat!”

8. A family of jokers.

“My family ancestry can be traced back to a court jester who served in the court of King Jakob IV of Sweden.”

9. One big baby.

“My grandfather got an award from Mussolini in 1935.

He was just born with 6.3kg (13 lbs 14.2 oz) and was awarded the award of “Italy’s Biggest Baby”.”

10. That doesn’t sound good.

“I once fell over a chair during a massive bar fight, in the process kicking a German marine out a second story windows in the middle of downtown Queensland.”

11. Mug the muggers.

“I was mugged in Belgium, and I mugged the muggers back. Got my wallet and my friend’s purse back.

I’m a pretty quiet low key guy, so no one believed the story, and it’s so disappointing because I’m pretty sure I’ll never be that awesome again.”

12. Born in a storm.

“I was almost named Storm because I was born at 3 am in the middle of a massive tornado storm (one touched down actually a few minutes after I was born).

I was also essentially dead (docs thought they were going to lose both me and my mom) but somehow I lived.”

13. What are the chances?

“I’ve been in 3 fatal train accidents.

Never had a scratch.”

14. Rock star.

“I bought a guitar amp from Brad Whitford, of Aerosmith, when I was 17. He and Steven Tyler served up cheeseburgers for me and my friends.

So, Brad’s son was a punk and I knew him from the scene. I was in a band that had some small local marginal success. This is 97/98 in Boston. I needed a new amp for our first US tour but had very little money. I was getting drunk with his son and, on a whim, I asked him if his dad had any amps laying around that he didn’t need. We laughed and carried on partying.

The next day, I get a call at my home. It was Mr. Whitford himself. He was super nice but to the point. “My son says you got a band and need a good rig for your les Paul. I have something in mind for you. Just gotta have my guy get it from the warehouse.

Come by my house in Norwell this weekend and check it out”. That was the gist of the call. Obviously, the whole band came with me. And our roadie.

We get to his house and it’s totally him. So weird. These guys were like gods in Boston. I wasn’t the hugest fan but knew him from his work with Wayne’s World. He takes me to (one of) his garage(s) where there is this cool full stack. The brand is Bedrock. An old company from New Hampshire that made good quality amps in the 80’s. This one was custom made for Brad.

Basically Marshall components. 4 tubes. All the knobs go to 11. Not kidding. Still has the “property of Aerosmith” stickers on it. He plugs it in and rips a crazy solo on his les Paul and then hands it to me and I play a couple power chords. He asks for $300 for the whole thing. I pay him and he tells his son to give us a tour of the house.

This is where shit gets nuts. It’s just like you expect. Tons of gold records, platinum records…Pictures of him with people like John Lennon, Robert DeNiro and Joey Ramone. Then we get to see his studio and THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF MARSHALL AMPS IN THE WORLD. Seriously, like 200 cabs. A wall of guitars. Guitars so pretty and amps so cool, it made sense for him to find the one he sold me dispensable.

After the house tour, he told us to meet him at the little bar and grill they own in town. When we get there early and he arrives 30 mins later with muthafuckin Steven Tyler in tow. “You guys the punk group?!” He was so nice.

They went in the back and came out with burgers for us all on the house. Then they straight up left. Irish goodbyed, even! I still have the amp. I used it on the road for almost 10 years in five bands. Now, it’s just a conversation piece. But it still works! I’ll crank her up every now and then.”

I love hearing stories like these!

How about you?

Do you have some fascinating stories from your past that you want to share with us?

Please do so in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!

The post People Share Fascinating True Stories About Their Lives appeared first on UberFacts.

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10 Intriguing Facts for You to Chew On

We live in an uncertain world right now and we hear the terms “fake news” and “alternative facts” thrown around quite a bit.

Well, let us assure you that there is nothing fake or alternative about our facts.

We give you the real deal, honest, 100% truthful information in our many fact sets. And they’re all meant to make you think and be more curious about the world around you!

So what do you say? Are you ready for another hefty dose of intriguing facts?

Let’s get started!

1. Sounds like a good gig.

This is one of the weirdest facts I’ve ever seen.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

2. That’s it! I’m moving to Finland!

And I guess I’m gonna get a PhD…

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

3. I’ll take that bet…

And look what he did with it!

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

4. Just imagine that.

That sounds absolutely terrifying.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

5. Creepy bloodlines.

That’s pretty crazy.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

6. Some people don’t need lessons.

The Man in Black sure didn’t.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

7. Spy games.

A brilliant maneuver.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

8. Real-life crime solving.

Did you know this?

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

9. The power of nature.

Mother Nature surprises us on a daily basis.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

10. She was a trailblazer.

But people didn’t follow her advice.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

Those were some very high-quality facts, if I do say so myself.

Now we want to hear from you!

If you’ve come across any interesting facts, stories, articles, etc., share them with us in the comments.

Please and thank you!

The post 10 Intriguing Facts for You to Chew On appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Woman Named Karen Is Furious With A Karen Meme Page

No matter how much you try to explain things online to some people, they still just don’t get it. What is a meme, exactly? And what’s this newfangled thing called TikTok, you say? Does it have to do with a clock?

Well, one woman named Karen has had enough. She’s done with all the jokes, the memes, the thingamajigs — whatever they’re called — making fun of Karens. And that’s final!

She decided to message the admin of a Facebook page called “No, Karen.” It went about as well as you might expect.

Photo Credit: Imgur

But Karen didn’t stop there. She kept on writing, several paragraphs worth, actually.

Photo Credit: Imgur

The owner of the page wrote back and his/her response was priceless. Just try not to laugh while reading this one.

Photo Credit: Imgur

This is SO NOT FUNNY! Now, now, Karen. Settle down.

Photo Credit: Imgur

Oooh, burn. You do not wanna mess with the administrator of a meme page with your name on it!

Photo Credit: Imgur

I guess we’ll never know if Karen called the police or got her lawyers involved. As one commenter pointed out: “The only thing missing is ‘Please let me speak to your manager.’”

If she would’ve said that, the internet would have had a literal field day. Because, let’s face it, Karens often deliver when it comes to the “ridiculous behavior” department.

What do you think of the Karen meme craze? Is it a harmless joke or something deeper than that?

Let us know in the comments!

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Your Parents Gave You the Sex Talk. Now It’s Time for You to Give Them the Death Talk.

A talk about the birds and the bees is a moment that no parent looks forward to when they bring a precious innocent baby home from the hospital. If the kid knew what was coming, they wouldn’t be looking forward to it, either.

Talking about sex, puberty, masturbation, pregnancy, STDs, and all the rest with your kid (or your mom and dad) is super uncomfortable, but we do it, because we don’t want anyone to be unprepared when and if the moment arises.

We want to be on the same page, to know that our kids understand the basics and learn the truth – not whatever their friends or the internet are saying – so they’re not blindsided by a pregnancy or disease.

Your parents (should have) ignored all of the discomfort and gone ahead with a talk they knew no one was going to like because they knew it was the best thing for everyone in the long run.

Now, experts say you’ve got to return the favor and push a talk about another uncomfortable topic – the death talk.

No one likes to think about losing their parents, and parents don’t want to think too much about leaving this world for whatever comes next. That said, there are many arguments for not pushing it off another day – namely that not one of us knows when our last day is going to be.

And if you’re avoiding the talk because you think your parents have already figured everything out, the truth is, many people haven’t. The best time to do it, according to Paul Malley, President of Aging with Dignity, is when everyone is still healthy.

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⠀ ? #DeathPositiveMoment for Today ?⠀ ⠀ The novel coronavirus calls out just how much we need to have conversations about end-of-life. ⠀ ⠀ End-of-life planning is more than merely determining what kind of care you want in your final days. It's about making personal choices as to who you want with you when the time comes and what will bring you and your family comfort and ☮. ⠀ ⠀ Creating a living will doesn't require lots of ⌚ and ?. It can be done at home, snuggled on the couch with your loved ones. This work begins with self-reflection about what is important to you, which ultimately translates into a living will for the body, mind, and soul. ⠀ ⠀ Five Wishes is an at-? tool that collects your end-of-life wishes in a single place. It is legally binding in ALL but 8 states. You can complete it online or order a hard copy. The template is $5, and it's simply written with no legalese. ⠀ ⠀ ? Start the conversation and download your template at fivewishes.org ?⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #TheStyxChyx #LetsTalkDying #BringDeathtoLife #DeathPositive #FiveWishes #EndofLifePlanning #EOL #Planning #LivingWill #AdvanceDirective

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“There are families that are being put on the spot with a phone call from an emergency room or an ICU and their loved one can’t communicate anymore. And then they’re left to guess.”

This advice also applies to illness that can crop up as parents age, like dementia and Alzheimers, that make it hard for them to tell you how exactly they want the end of their life to work.

Hashing things out ahead of time can not only ensure your parent or loved one is treated the way they want to be, but it can also ease tensions between family members who might not agree with each other on how to proceed.

“There is never the question ‘Is this what they would want?’” says Sarah Roffee, co-founder of Kind Minds Therapy. “Because it’s already out in the open and they have confirmed with you directly that these are your wishes.”

If you’re convinced that you need to have this talk with your parents, but aren’t sure where to start, many experts recommend the Five Wishes program. It was created in 1996 and helps families create a living will, power of attorney, and resolve issues related to comfort and religion.

It’s basically a five-step checklist you can use to begin the conversation and resolve the big questions.

Wish 1:
The Person I Want to Make Care Decisions for Me When I Can’t

Wish 2:
The Kind of Medical Treatment I want or Don’t Want

Wish 3:
How Comfortable I Want to Be

Wish 4:
How I Want People to Treat Me

Wish 5:
What I Want My Loved Ones to Know

Malley says that “the whole idea with five wishes is that it keeps the discussions and the documentation simple and it’s intended for families to be able to use on their own. So you don’t have to consult with an outside expert. You are the expert on what’s important to you and to your family.”

He has some advice on broaching the subject, too, and advises starting with how much you love and care about your parent, and that you want to make sure they’re taken care of as they want to be in the future.

“Start with a simple statement of, ‘I want to be a good son or daughter to you, mom or dad, and I want to make the right decisions for you. So help me to understand what’s important to you.”

The Five Wishes program attempts to take things out of legal language and translate it into language any family can understand. Malley and the others who created it hope that their list of wishes can make this uncomfortable but necessary talk easier on everyone, without losing the focus on what’s important.

“There’s a message of empowerment to the person who’s filling it out. And also a message of instruction to the family. Because most of us don’t have experience being at the bedside of somebody who’s sick. We all want to do the right things, but most of us don’t know what the right things are. And when a family completes Five Wishes together, they have practical things that they can do for one another to show them that they are loved.”

Also, you know. You’ve probably got kids of your own, now, so this will be good practice for being on the opposite side of the sex talk.

Just know that your parents love you, you love them, and open lines of communication have always been the best way to get through all of the tough stuff.

The post Your Parents Gave You the Sex Talk. Now It’s Time for You to Give Them the Death Talk. appeared first on UberFacts.

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Tweets With Some Good News (For a Change)

It’s time to sprinkle some happiness in your life with some posts that contain only good news!

I know it’s hard to figure out how to feel about these, since everything is like, brimstone and fire these days, but I swear – these 13 posts are going to make you remember that it’s nice to smile sometimes!

13. I would like to meet the person who was brave enough to dress these geese.

Those things are mean as hell.

12. This is just slaying me.

That dog is so embarrassed but at least hair grows.

11. I’m going to need an update in 18 years.

He’s definitely getting drafted if baseball is a thing by then.

10. Nobody wants to pray alone.

Except, you know, most people.

9. I have never been more jealous in my life.

How do I tempt foxes to have babies in my yard?!

Two foxes have decided to take advantage of the UK lockdown and use my friends garden to raise their cubs. from aww

8. I approve of this message.

It’s better than the original, honestly.

7. I’m going to need more of this immediately.

Ever teacher needs to make this a project, STAT.

6. Love is real, you guys!

And it also involves being in the room while the other person poops, but nothing is perfect.

5. Well, she’s marrying into the right family.

Talk about hitting the lottery!

My mother-in-law set up a sweetheart table for my fiancée and I on what was supposed to be our wedding day. from MadeMeSmile

4. This is the saddest dog on the planet.

My heart, y’all. MY HEART.

3. Peak lockdown right there.

Sheep are dumb, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know how to party.

Sheep discovers how to use a trampoline from aww

2. This is definitely a thing that makes me smile.

New Yorkers are good people.

1. The lure of Animal Crossing knows no bounds.

It’s one of the things bringing us all together.

I definitely needed these in my life today, how about you?

Which one did the trick? Tell us in the comments!

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People Laugh About the Best WiFi Name They’ve Seen

A lot of times when you go to log on to your home or public WiFi, the other available networks don’t catch your eye. They’re named for businesses or they’re the numbers that were assigned to networks and routers before they were installed, or they’re people’s last names (boring!).

Some people, though, never pass up an opportunity to get creative and make people laugh – like these 16 people, who named their WiFi networks something you definitely couldn’t miss.

Bless.

16. I always like ones like this.

For the longest time, I had my phones hotspot name as ‘Police Surveillance Tricycle’.

Turns out, its a good way to get some people paranoid and have others amused over the whole thing when having it active during classes.

15. If that doesn’t make you laugh, I don’t know what to tell you – it’s a classic!

“Router? I hardly know her” was my all-time favorite.

14. People really are hilarious.

My favorite is “it’s on the back of the router”

Edit: on the back of the router it would say “ask (my name) for password.”

13. It’s funny…because it’s true.

“Crack Shack” which wasn’t exactly creative but we later found out that the owners were arrested for selling drugs

12. I’m betting only some people thought that was funny.

Was at a church and some neighbour had “Jesus has left the building”

11. The only thing that would have been better was “Hot Signals In Your Area.”

My younger brother set his mobile hotspot to “Hot Singles in Your Area” and I’m never gonna get over it

10. That’s one way to keep them busy.

One of my son’s (probably about 12 or 13 at the time) friend’s father set added a Wi-Fi channel named “Free Internet Porn” when his son had a birthday sleep-over.

The father then sat outside the area where they were sleeping and listened to them spend hours trying to figure out how to connect. My son called me that night asking how to connect to a Wi-Fi channel when you don’t know the password because his friend forgot their password. I told him the only way was to guess.

Evidently it kept them busy and out of trouble all night!

9. They’re never gonna guess!

We’re not allowed to have our own routers on campus.

So I named mine AT&T Mobile Hotspot.

8. Everyone loves a good pun.

In my last apartment I named my wifi New England Clam Router.

Always liked that one.

7. I think this one might be my favorite.

“Rebellious Amish Family”

6. Grandma is fierce AF!

When my grandma was getting her WiFi set up, we asked her what she’d say to people who asked for her WiFi.

She said that she would tell them to “Go to Hell”, so that’s now her password.

So whenever people ask for the WiFi password, she tells them, “Go to Hell”.

5. Of course they did.

I install internet etc. for a living.

Best one I ever came up with was for the DeltaPhi sorority, DeltaWiPhi, they loved it.

4. Laurel and Hardy at your service.

Wedonthavewifi

Password was idontknow

Hilarious when anyone asked him how to get on his WiFi.

It was like a vaudeville routine.

3. Hey when you find a good one you stick with it.

My dads a huge fan of the matrix and calls every router we’ve ever had the Nebuchadnezzar

2. Definitely not your LAN, sorry.

This LAN is my LAN.

1. Clever and not too overdone.

I had a roommate that named ours Batlan and Login.

I always thought that was clever.

I love people like this and wish I could be one of them.

What would your contribution to this list be? Tell us in the comments!

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People Imagine a World With a “Reverse Yelp” and the Reviews Are Spot On

Yelp! can be super helpful if you’re looking for somewhere to stay, eat, or are thinking of booking one of the services they cover. The site allows users to rate products and experience so that other people know whether or not it would be worth their time to check the place out, too.

Unfortunately, most businesses and service people don’t have the opportunity or any way to rate customers in return, even fi someones they really, really deserve it (good or bad!).

Enter Reddit, whose users imagine what people might say if they did get that opportunity.

14. The dream, right there. Take notes.

Came in. Ordered. Ate their food in silence. Left minimal mess and a reasonable tip. Then buggered off.

My perfect customer.

5 stars.

13. See. Not all customers are bad customers.

Her kids dropped the popcorn so she asked me for a broom to let them clean it up themselves.

I said it wasn’t necessary but she insisted that she wanted to raise them to be conscious of the fact that when they make a mess someone has to clean it up.

Nice lady. 5/5

12. That’s the way to take back control.

Drunken fool tried to return half bottle of booze because it “tastes off.”

Watch him get in his car and promptly called police to report drunken driver.

11. This is sad but also, fist-bump for the server.

This girl was clearly having a bad day. She seemed really angry and upset. I tried my best to help, but there wasn’t much I could do. I took her order, served her as usual. She got a call and walked out of the restaurant.

I went to the table and found a 50 dollar bill and a sweet little note about how her husband died and she really appreciates my patience.

5 stars, best customer.

10. It’s time to unload!

“You were the most unreasonable person I have ever met. Every single person, from the ushers (who are volunteers) to the other patron who offered their seat to you wanted to help. I wanted to help you.

I know when you are unable to transfer out of your wheelchair, it is a frustrating situation. It must be absolutely maddening when the house manager can not remove the seat in the center of the theatre (which was bolted to not only the cement floor, but to the rest of the seats in the row) so you can put that wheelchair there.

I’m sorry that our ADA seating were at the front and rear of the theatre, and not where you purchased your ticket. I’m sorry that when you called our box office, you did not mention your inability to transfer out of your wheelchair.

But you did not need to yell and curse in front of everyone waiting to watch Miss Saigon. You did not have to hit me. You are the first and last person I ever issued a refund to just to get you to stop screaming.

When you needed to get back to the lobby and were unable to push your wheelchair back up the ramp, I again tried to help you. First, I offered to push you up myself, but you insisted I should not touch the wheelchair (please note: no one had ever called me a f-word/c-word before, kudos to your creativity).

I then offered to find your now absent husband/boyfriend. It wouldn’t have been hard to find him, for he was at the bar ordering his third whiskey (lobby had only been open for 20minutes at that point). But again, you vehemently declined assistance.

But I must say, it was rather astounding when you stood up and proceeded to walk the wheelchair back to the box office of your own volition. I say astounding, because when your husband/boyfriend asked why you were leaving, and you said because you ‘didn’t want to sit in our fucked up seats.’

I then assumed you had a condition whereupon sitting for long periods of time caused great discomfort. I then asked if there was a way to further accommodate you so that you may see the show. Then your husband called you ‘an old bat who was just trying to get free tickets. She’s not disabled, it’s all an act!’

I bid you both a goodnight. 1 Star. I would have given you 0 stars, but I reserve that for the person who tried to kill me because a queue line wasn’t moving fast enough for their liking.”

9. This is everyone’s review of me, ever.

“Very polite but also incredibly awkward for some reason.”

8. People are so stinking entitled.

A customer walked in the front door of my very closed, curbside only pub today and asked if we had any steak. He had to ignore a giant sign saying

PLEASE STAY OUTSIDE WE WILL BRING YOUR PHONE/ONLINE ORDER OUT TO YOU.

Zero out of five stars. I almost had a rage stroke.

7. Is there a lower option?

The lady who yelled at me on the second day of my first job over the price of milk can have a solid 1 star.

6. Just be ready for it.

Becky and Judy, five stars.

After two glasses of temperanillo Judy is going to order a half glass. Ask if she went to physical therapy today for her shoulder.

If she did, give her the full glass. Becky will wink at you.

5. A head’s up is always nice.

I’ve got a few…

  • “Very friendly, usually gets a root beer to start and a coffee after their meal.”
  • “Eats out on break from lunch daily, usually wants quick service and minimal interruptions, sometimes eats with a client. Usually tips well.”
  • “Made many additional requests throughout the meal during peak dinner hour. Left the table disgustingly messy. Did not tip well.”
  • “This guest is awesome! Likes to take suggestions, so offer a drink and make sure to have some lesser known dishes memorized. Will talk to you for as long as you let them.”
  • I would mostly try to let other waiters know what to expect from tables.

You’re welcome.

4. It’s sad that he’s in the minority.

Nice, pleasant man. Always orders the same sandwich every time, making preparing for him simple despite the complicated sandwich. Tips well, never talks longer it takes to complete his order.

Also, the only male regular over 50 that doesn’t leer at my underage coworker.

5 stars.

3. Just don’t get popcorn, Karen!

“Came on opening weekend of one of the biggest movies of the year 5 minutes before the showtime and then was shocked they’d have to stand in line for their concessions. Then complained to management that they ‘missed their movie’.

Like what did they think was going to happen? Like we’d have a reserved placed in line for them because of their obvious VIP status as King Douchelord of Assland?

0 stars!”

2. Negative 5 stars? WOAH.

She lied about her hair history, wanted white blonde in one session on her “virgin” dark hair that the strand test determined was a lie. Said she could do it herself at home, turned hair orange instead.

Came back to get a color correction and after explaining why she couldn’t have blonde she said she’d settle for anything but orange and lighter than the dark. Gets a beautiful chocolate/caramel color and cries because it’s not blonde and too expensive, and also leaves no tip.

-5 stars, not worth my time

1. Who does that?!

“Brought infant to rated R movie then complained that it was ‘too scary’ and demanded a refund.

0 stars.”

I think some of these are about the nicest things someone could say, given the chance.

If you work in the service industry, what’s the worst review you would give a customer? Tell us about it in the comments!

The post People Imagine a World With a “Reverse Yelp” and the Reviews Are Spot On appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Talk About What Their Parents Threw out That Would Be Worth a Lot of Money These Days

My dad always says that if he would’ve kept his baseball card collection from the 1950s he’d be a millionaire.

Well, it didn’t exactly work out that way…

I don’t know if he threw those cards out or his parents did, but they’re LONG GONE.

And you know this is a pretty common story.

A lot of us had collections of all kinds of stuff when we were kids that suddenly disappeared for one reason or another.

In this AskReddit article, people talk about the things they had as kids that would be worth a lot of money…if their parents hadn’t thrown it all away.

1. Dammit, Mom!

“My brother had a bunch of first edition Pokémon cards, that he spent over a year collecting.

Mom took them away for getting in trouble at school, and they were never seen again.”

2. Oh, those…

“I had the complete collection of teenage mutant ninja turtles figures.

I packed them into a box and put them away then later when looking for them i couldn’t find them… asked my mother.. “oh those, i threw them out.. you weren’t playing with them anymore””

3. It’s not “junk”.

“About 40 Indian Arrow heads collected on my grandparents farm for years by myself and my grandfather and full sets of baseball cards from 1969-1980, my mom decided to toss out all that “junk” when I moved out for military.”

4. That is not cool.

“After my mom died, my dad met this crazy, Jehovah’s Witness woman and one thing led to another. About a month before my high school graduation we got into a HUGE fight over something  and she burned my collection of old Dungeons and Dragons
books and magic cards.

Complete collections…Every 1st edition book in good condition
signed by Gary Gygax. I guess my brother knew him at some point.

The real kicker? I rode the wave of the original magic the gathering launches back in the day, complete sets of the original series through…homelands? All burnt to a crisp. Every once in a while when i want to be depressed about never being able to retire i look up the card values.”

5. Comic books.

“Nearly all of the first 24 editions of virtually every Marvel series, from The Fantastic Four to Spiderman (including the Amazing Tales in which he was introduced) to Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. Basically all of them.

At a comic book store I was once looking at some collectors editions of those comics priced at about $1,500 to $,2400. I said to the clerk “Man, I used to have all of these.”

The clerk, whom I’m sure was Matt Groening’s model for Comic Book Man, without even looking up said in a bored voice, “Do you know how many times a day I hear that?””

6. Evil devil music!

“My mom had a collection of signed Beatles records that she threw away after she converted to Christianity because played backwards they summoned the devil or something.

For years I was hoping to inherit it when I grew up.

All I think it summoned was poverty. :/ “

7. Stamp collectors.

“Stamps.

When I was around 7 I used to stay at this friend of my parents house. She was older, and sort of a substitute grandmother. Her mother lived with her, she used to collect stamps. When she passed away the subbie gran gave me the collection.

My oldest brother had them in his room, I can’t remember why. My parents used to make a big pile in the middle of our rooms of what was messy and we had a couple of hours to put it all away. My brother faffed about and didn’t do it. So the remaining pile was thrown out. In that pile was the collection of stamps.

To this day I believe that there would have been valuable stamps in that collection considering the age of the collection, but I’ll never know.”

8. That’s kind of weird.

“I had mined 8 bitcoins at age 16. Kept them in a hard disk. When they grew in value I searched for and hard disk to know that my mom sold it to a 19 yr old for $50. I still curse my mom for doing that.”

9. Those very popular dolls.

“Barbies.

My family wasn’t super well-off growing up, but for some reason they allowed my sibling and I to amass dozens of Barbies, hundreds of clothes, two doll houses, three cars, one RV, a plane, and so fucking much else besides. When I was 12 and had outgrown it all, my dad decided it was time to pass them onto younger cousins or otherwise get rid of them.

Looking back, we should’ve held onto most of it. I had celebrity Barbies, anniversary Barbies, Barbies that came with horses, or were ballerinas, or were otherwise novel in the Barbie world. I literally spent 10 years collecting Barbies and now don’t even have a single shoe to show for it.”

10. I bet you’d like to have those right about now.

“The original Transformers in boxes. Had all main characters and nearly all of the smaller bots. Got em when I was 11, 12 or so in the mid 80s.

Left for the military and mom had a huge garage sale…”

11. That’s interesting.

“Lynyrd Skynyrd had released an album where the album cover had the band members standing in a fire. Not long after the release of this album, some of the members died in a plane crash and they recalled the albums so they could give it a more appropriate cover.

My grandpa had one of the originals and he probably could have made a lot off it… if his mom didn’t throw it away not knowing what it was…”

12. Long gone.

“A bunch of World War I coins that was thrown away because I never looked at them, I knew they were gonna be worth a fortune so I tried to not go near them because I was extremely paranoid.”

13. That’s a rough one.

“Not thrown away, but sold. I had a baseball card collection with over 200,000 cards when I was a teenager. Many HOF autographs, memorabilia cards, signed gloves and balls, a game worn jersey from the Padres 98 World Series run.

Needless to say, it was already worth a decent amount at that time. I have looked up some of the larger items in today’s retail markets, and those alone would’ve fetched around $20-25,000 USD. My mom took them when I moved to my dad’s house because she was abusive. Sold it all for a few thousand on Craigslist and kept the money.”

14. Remember those?

“My collection of Polly Pockets.

I’ve literally seen some of the ones I had worth thousands of dollars now.”

15. The vintage stuff.

“Robots, lots of robots from the 60’s, and 70’s, some were the tin type, some were plastic, some I haven’t even seen on the internet although I keep thinking someone has to have at least one left somewhere.

All in total about 25+ kinds of robots from my childhood, that my dad threw out because apparently when you turn 12, you don’t need toys. This is probably why my wife makes fun of all the junk I keep, because I never got the choice to part with them so now I horde all remaining childhood possessions.”

16. Had to do it.

“I remember when state quarters first came out, my father sent me a collection of every first edition state quarter and one time I went to show my friends awhile later and couldn’t find them, I asked my mother and she said she had to use them for laundry.

We were very poor at the time so I understand, but I was a little sad by it as well because it was one of the only things my father ever sent me.”

Ouch!

It hurts to read some of those stories, huh?

Now we want to hear from you!

Did your parents ever get rid of some items that became valuable a lot later? Or maybe you lost them or threw them away yourself?

Tell us all about it in the comments!

The post People Talk About What Their Parents Threw out That Would Be Worth a Lot of Money These Days appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Share Their Dumbest Ideas That Actually Worked

Sometimes, dumb ideas really do the trick!

I can’t say it’s ever really happened to me, but it definitely does for some folks out there.

And you’re about to read about them!

Here are some very entertaining stories from AskReddit users.

1. Wow! That’s crazy!

“In my freshman year of college, my grades were really not great. And my parents were really strict about getting good grades. When my dad asked to see my grades, I panicked and did the inspect command on the computer where you can change type faces on the screen to read different words and letters.

I changed all of my shitty grades to good grades. My dad was so happy that I did “good” my first year of school. He asked me to print my results. I did, and turns out he had to send them to our car insurance company for a “good student discount”. Ultimately, I committed insurance fraud by accident. But I got the discount.”

2. You look weird, but it works.

“Wearing a motorcycle helmet while snowblowing.

I did it because i missed riding, it kept my face warm and when snow would fly back at me the visor would protect me.”

3. A dangerous idea.

“A storm broke a limb on a tree hanging over my house in my back yard, but it was still hanging on by a few splinters. I didn’t want it to fall, and it wasn’t in a place where I could use my ladder to get to it.

So I found some rope, tied a brick to it, threw the brick and rope over the limb, made a crude rope swing, and swung and pulled at the branch until it finished breaking.

It wasn’t until I was using the chainsaw to cut it up that I realized how many times during my stupid idea I could have easily hurt or even killed myself.”

4. That’s pretty good!

“Our power was out due to a storm. I had a campstove to use for boiling water to make a coffee pour-thru, but I couldn’t use my electric grinder for the coffee beans. I tried fashioning a mortal and pestle but it was taking too long.

So, I put the coffee beans in a couple of ziplock bags, placed the bag right behind a car tire, then ran over it back and forth a couple of times to crush the beans. Worked like a charm.”

5. V.I.P.

“A friend and I once snuck 15 people into the Warped Tour by giving them some bracelets from a party supply store and clipboards full of paper.

Walked up to the side gate and said we were with Rock The Vote. The security guard waved us right in.”

6. You’re hired!

“I forgot to bring a resume to a job interview, but I had an index card in my bag. I cut the index card in half and wrote my name, my contact info, and “creative problem solver” in my best handwriting, and gave a copy of my “business card” to both the interviewers.

I got the job.”

7. This is great.

“When I was young and broke I bought a sofa from a used furniture store. I had no way to take the sofa home.

I went to a used car lot a couple of blocks away and took a truck for a test drive…”

8. Just like on TV!

“I’m stuck on a cliff, but if I jump at a really sharp angle at that gravel field, I could just slide down there and be fine, just like in TV!“

Every time I think about this I am amazed I’m not either flattened by a rock, or impact against something.

Childhood really is just the tutorial level sometimes.”

9. Congratulations!

“In college I was taking a class that required me to purchase an online textbook and workbook that was registered under your name, basically ensuring that each student would have to buy a new online copy each semester instead of buying used textbooks.

I had a friend who took this class a semester before me so we came up with the idea to message customer service and explain that I had recently gotten married (so my last name had changed) and I legally changed my first name from [my friend’s first name] to [my first name] and I would need them to change it in their system.

It totally worked and the rep even congratulated my on my marriage.”

10. This is smart.

“Real estate told me I had to have the carpets professionally cleaned (wasn’t in the contract) or I’d lose my $800 bond.

I did some research and found out I could become an accredited carpet cleaner as there are no official licencing boards in my state.

So, I did what any sane person would do. I paid the $85, did the online course and got my certificate. Registered a business name, ABN etc etc. (all free)

Handed the property management a copy of my accreditation and an invoice for services.

I became a professional carpet cleaner and launched a vacate cleaning business that is still going 6 months later.

I did clean the carpets. They claimed I didn’t and required a professional cleaners invoice as proof. So I gave them the proof.

I did not charge the real estate agency, it was a copy of the invoice they claimed to require.

I do professional house keeping and cleaning for vacating a property at the end of lease to enure you get maximum bond back.

I help people who are being unfairly treated by their property management and advise them on what steps to take in regards to cleaning, repairs etc

-With the return of the bond, and some smart shopping, I was able to purchase my own equipment to continue the job, I then claimed those costs back on tax.”

11. Blind luck.

“This idea could’ve easily gotten me fired if it went wrong.

I was working as art-director at an animation studio, making videos for clients. One client was especially pesky about the use of yellow in the background. They wanted it to be that of their logo, which was this horrible neon-piss yellow.

We advised against it, but after numerous calls we had to cave and gave a version with that colour. They hated it, and asked for a change. What followed were 12 versions with numerous calls in between tweaking the colour over and over.

Eventually I got tired of it and just sent the original version again, I didn’t even bother to rename the file. The client said “this looks exactly the way I wanted, thank you”!

How that ever went right I still have no idea.”

12. When in Rome…

“Dressing like a redneck to pick up chicks. Went to college in the south but the guys there were all very preppy. I thought because a lot of the girls grew up in the south, they would be drawn to more of a redneck vibe that not many people on campus had. so I bought a camo fishing hat.

Literally had three girls start conversations with me that day.”

13. Very satisfying.

“There was a swarm of hornets that had made a nest under the front of our porch with only one specific narrow entry in or out.

Spray wouldn’t work and it was right under our front door, so had no way to keep exterminating them.

Then I realized “why not whirring blades of metal?”. We DID have an old 50s metal fan and I could maybe blow them away from the entrance so they had no way to get in.

The unanticipated effect was that it worked, though after a few hours had created a Civil War battlefield of dead or dying hornets piling up like a zombie tower in World War Z. Every few moments you’d hear “thunk” as another hornet fell into the trap.

So satisfying.”

14. Fakin’ it.

“Was really REALLY desperate to leave past employer after 15 years. Had been applying and interviewing and striking out. Finally got an interview at a place where (at the time) I felt, “meh, I am not really sure this is right for me, but anything is better than where I am at.”

Instead of prepping for the interview, rehearsing answers, etc…I pulled an “office space.” I was cocky, brash, unconcerned, made it seem like I was happy where I was at and didn’t really care if I got the job or not.

They called me back the next week and I waited a week to return their call. Same deal with the second interview. When they offered me the job, I hemmed and hawed, said I needed to think about it really hard, and that it was a “big move” for me, etc., etc. I came back and demanded well over $15,000 above what they were offering in salary. They accepted.”

15. Just like Costanza.

“It probably wouldn’t work in this day and age but back when I was young I was tired of retail and wanted an office job. I just lied my ass off and pulled a total George Costanza what with friends coached to answer their phones as a business and such.

Got hired as an admin assistance and been steadily moving up since.”

Color me impressed!

I guess I’ll have to give more dumb ideas a chance once in a while.

How about you? Have you had any dumb ideas that actually ended up working out?

If so, please tell us about them in the comments!

The post People Share Their Dumbest Ideas That Actually Worked appeared first on UberFacts.

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Police Officers Talk About the Smartest Criminals They’ve Ever Encountered

It’s been a permanent fixture of film, television, and literature for years. The cunning criminal who is so bright that they routinely outsmart the police and make them look foolish.

But this phenomenon exists in real life too, believe it or not.

AskReddit users shared their stories about especially smart criminals.

Let’s see what they had to say.

1. That is insane.

“My favorite was the guy who stole a post office mailbox off the street, repainted it, and then put it next to the night deposit box at a bank.

And hung an out-of-order sign on the deposit box. All the businesses came along and dropped off their deposits in the mailbox.”

2. Ahhhhh, the GPS.

“I worked crime scenes. This guy had attached GPS to the bottom of peoples cars who owned houses, he wanted to rob.

He did it to ensure they wouldn’t be showing up while he was ransacking the place.”

3. Almost got away with it.

“I remember an officer telling me about a B&E alarm he and his team responded to. No one was there to report the alarm, it must have been a security monitoring company that called.

When police showed up, everything seemed normal, most lights were off, and there was an employee still working. Explains he was there working late and must have set off an alarm.

They almost believed him until he said “uhh” before saying the name of the company he worked for. After that it was downhill but with a little more research he would have pretty much gotten away with it.”

4. On parole…

“There’s one guy I recently dealt with who is on parole. I stopped him in my city after he was looking to buy drugs (usually people come from all over to buy drugs and then leave). I issue him a warning and let him go as it’s pretty common and he sang like a bird regarding the people he was trying to buy from.

Anyway, the next day, I got a call from his parole officer who says he was alerted the guy was pulled over and wanted to verify that It was his guy that I stopped. I’m a little confused at first but he goes on to say that the day before, he was scheduled to meet with him but he had an excuse and bailed.

His excuse was that he was in the hospital. Well when he spoke with him the following day, he was able to provide documentation that he had entered the hospital day 1 and had left day 2. Well I had stopped him at 115 in the morning and after looking at the picture, it was 100% him.

Turns out the guy had checked in then out of the hospital on day 1, then in and out again on day 2. He then re arranged half the paperwork to make it look like he was in the hospital overnight which would make my car stop of him appear like I mixed him up with someone else as well as give him a valid excuse to miss their meeting.

Not sure what’s gonna happen to that guy but I thought it was pretty clever.”

5. It’s cold outside.

“Worked at a jail. After getting off work, I watched an ex inmate (homeless) being released, he walked over to a patrol car, looked me in the eye, and the elbowed the window in. He was walked back to the entrance and re-booked in. It was middle of January. He didn’t want to get too cold.

To the people talking about “Can’t break car windows.” That’s true. Also depends on the car. The patrol car they used was specifically old model. Used more for the perimeter of the jail unless other patrol cars were in the shop. Those windows had been replaced so many times. Idk if it’s the same material or what.”

6. The great state of Costco.

“A friend of my brother moved to Israel where for a period of time it was/is acceptable to drive with an American driver’s license.

He was pulled over for speeding, and when asked for his license, gave the officer his Costco card (Costco is a membership-based retail warehouse in the US and a few other countries. The exchange apparently went something like this: Officer: “Costco? What is Costco?”

Friend: “It’s the state I’m from.”

Officer: “That sounds made up.”

Friend: “There are lots of states you probably haven’t heard of. Have you heard of Arkansas? How about Idaho?”

Officer: “I guess not…”

Friend: “Well I’m from the small state of Costco.”

The officer didn’t have a response and wound up writing the ticket to someone with a Costco driver’s license. Friend framed the ticket and still has it hanging on his wall.”

7. It all adds up.

“One guy would print barcodes, bring them into home depot and stick them on merchandise in the $100 range. When scanned the items came up around the $10 range. Putting random barcodes on things isnt really illegal and super hard to notice. Guy two would come in an hour later and buy the underpriced stuff. Complete plausible deniability. They would then sell the stuff on Ebay.

Only reason they got caught is because the guy with the barcode printer/software cut the second guy out of the operation so guy 2 stole a bunch of barcodes, put them on the merchandise and paid for it immediately afterwards. He then proceeded to rat on the first guy and spilled the beans they had been doing this on a weekly basis for over four years.

Because we could only pin the one case on him, the burglary was dropped down to a pretty theft and he walked away with a few days in county and a small fine. Dude probably took homedepot for tens of thousands over the years.”

8. Fraud!

“I have a nice story from insurance/debt collectors.

There was this guy who was already in heaps of debt. Like more than a lifetimes worth of debt.

He proceeded to file several policereports for identity theft up to the point that he got protected from financial checkups – It was a temporary measure that were given to repeated identity theft victims. At the same time he had reported fake income to the IRS for the last couple of years to between 40 to 60 millions depending on the year.

So when he applied for credit cards and loans, they were unable to check his financial credit (Due to the identity theft protection) but they checked his tax returns which showed he had a massive income.

Got his loans and credit cards – emptied them out and left the country.”

9. Very clever…

“A while back, there was a series of thefts along the bus lines in my country. People’s things kept missing from one city to the next, and nobody had any idea what happened as things were presumably safe in the bottom of the bus which nobody except the driver had the access to.

What happened?

Apparently there were two guys, one of whom was really small. You get where this is going. The big guy would put the little guy in a suitcase, buy a ticket to somewhere, load him up with the rest of the luggage, and enjoy the ride, while the little guy went out, stole people’s electronics, jewelry, cameras and whatnot, then returned to his suitcase until the ride was over.

Not really sure how they caught them, but it was pretty amusing to read about, and i found the whole thing clever enough.”

10. This guy wasn’t messing around.

“There was an incident in Fargo ND where a guy wanted to steal electronics equipment. The store had plenty of alarms on it and generally cutting an alarm triggers an alarm so instead he cut ALL the alarms. This was before cellphones were really widespread and alarms were usually just connected to the phone line.

He found an access point to one of the phone companies big trunk lines (correction: 9 access points). Massive thick copper cables with tens of thousands of lines running through them. He cut through the whole thing with a circular saw, knocked out phone service to most of the town and robbed an audio store during the ensuing chaos.

There were no leads until a tip came in from another town where he’d pulled something similar. They hadn’t been able to pin that to him but had strong suspicions and he’d relocated to Fargo. So the cops pay him a visit. He refused to let them in because they didn’t have a warrant so the cops left to get one without leaving anyone to watch him and he split. When they came back they found the saw coated in copper dust and a lot of the stolen stuff.

He was in the wind for a while but even after he got caught he had another card to play. While being transported between prisons he used a key he’d made to unlock his shackles and climbed out the roof vent of the bus.”

11. In broad daylight.

“20 years ago a guy on Australia’s Gold Coast got away with a bank robbery in broad daylight.

He cased the bank for a while and discovered a pattern of the bank manager arriving about 30 minutes before anyone else each morning where he would leave the front doors unlocked so staff could help themselves in without a key or needing to wait for the boss to come and let them in.

One morning the crook dressed himself up for a busy day of office work and waited for the bank manager to arrive. As the manager was unlocking the doors he made his move, entering the building and threatening the manager with a gun. He got all the details he’d need to access the vault and so forth and then tied the manager up and stuffed him in his office.

When the staff arrived he told them that the manager had called in sick and that regional office had sent him in to do the open shop thing and no one batted an eyelid. This bank had a small walk in vault that normally only held about 30-50k on any given day but old mate had timed his robbery for the morning after business banking day when all the local small businesses would make their end of week deposits and reportedly got a score of close to 250k.

Once the vault was open he pulled his gun out and invited all the staff to enter the vault and locked them in. By this stage the bank was due to be open so when he went to leave there were a number of customers waiting to get inside to do their banking.

He told them all that there had been an issue with the computers and that the tech team had estimated it would take about 30 minutes before the issue would be resolved and that they couldn’t open until then.

Then he got into his car and drove straight to the airport and flew to Hong Kong and then disappeared.

To my knowledge the cops never caught him and never managed to find the money – they knew he’d have had to leave most of it in Australia somewhere because you can only take 10k aud in cash in any currency out of the country before customs pulls you into their interview rooms so the assumption was that he had to have an accomplice here who would funnel the money to him slowly over time.”

12. Never got caught.

“Several years ago in Cape Coral FL, a man waited on a sidewalk in front of a Publix grocery store and used a taser on an armored car guard carrying too bags of money.

A get away driver in a car with stolen tags pulled up, taser guy and money bags get in and they took off. Never caught.”

13. Small-town crime.

“Probably one of the smartest robberies in my small city.

One of the main streets is cut into a hillside and, as a result, there is a very steep and quite tall concrete-covered bank immediately behind the buildings. Between two buildings there is a gap that was filled at the street-end by an ATM.

To access it for filling, the security staff went through the next door building, out a side door and into the gap, which had the ATM at one end and the steep bank at the other. On the Friday before Christmas, when the ATM was to be filled to the brim, one of the robbers abseiled down the bank at night into the gap and waited for the guys to arrive to fill the ATM (they came early in the morning).

As they came through the door into the gap, he held them up, took the money, and took off through the building to an accomplice waiting in a van on the main street. Then the van took off on the main road out of the city and vanished.

After a big search, the police finally found the burnt-out van. Turned out the gang had driven it up a gorge road and had two other accomplices in cars at the top and bottom of the gorge who simultaneously drove really slowly into the gorge and held up the traffic so that no one was there to see them when they turned off down an access road into some bush.

They ended up being caught, because one of the gang was a former employee of the security company.”

14. Working the system.

“I worked with this one guy who had a lengthy record. He had a system for getting released if he got caught. After committing a crime, if the police were in pursuit and he knew he was about to be cornered, he would act insane.

His girl would play along with it telling the police that he was off his medication. The police would arrest him but then send him to a mental ward with papers instructing the ward to release to police once he was cleared. Once he was in the mental ward, he would cause a distraction that would make the person attending the desk with the file cabinet to leave said cabinet.

He would then crawl to the file cabinet, look for his “release to police” papers, and then would literally eat the papers. When the psych evaluators decided that he was stable enough to be released, there would be no instructions to send him to the police, and he would be released to the general public.

He did this about 10 times until police officers noticed him back on the streets. This stunt forced the state to change their procedure for detaining mentally unstable suspects.”

As someone who is pretty obsessed with crime, these stories were very interesting to me.

Now we want to hear from you!

Have you run across any wily criminals in your day?

Maybe as a cop, a lawyer, or in some other capacity?

Tell us about them in the comments!

The post Police Officers Talk About the Smartest Criminals They’ve Ever Encountered appeared first on UberFacts.