Category: life

Posted on

These Foods Do Not Belong in Your Pantry

Open your pantry doors and you might just realize you have a storage problem.

Stuffed side by side you can often find boxes, jars, cans and everything in between. It’s a mess!

But that’s not what we’re talking about. While your pantry may or may not have sufficient space to store your favorite snacks and cooking staples, that doesn’t mean every item belongs on those shelves.

Here are five foods that should not be stored in your pantry, at least not if you want to maximize their flavor and longevity.

Bananas

Photo Credit: Free Images

There’s a major difference between a banana that’s perfectly ripe and one that will squish at the slightest touch. Once your bananas are ready to eat, whatever that means to you, store them in the fridge. Leaving them in the dark in your pantry is a recipe for disaster (or perhaps banana bread).

Whole-Grain Flour

Photo Credit: Pixabay

When it comes to whole-grain flour, it deserves different treatment than its all-purpose cousin. This healthier alternative contains bran and wheat germ, and their oils can turn sour rather quickly. The secret to preserving its freshness is to store it in the freezer.

Fresh Herbs

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Incorporating fresh herbs in your cooking can add not only flavor but also health benefits. But while basil is best stored in your pantry, other greens such as rosemary and thyme need to rent room in your refrigerator. Even softer herbs used for garnishes and extra depth, such as dill and parsley, should be stored in plastic bags in the fridge rather than your pantry.

Opened Red Wine

Photo Credit: Pixabay

A glass of red wine after a long week (or day) of work can relax your weary mind and body. But if you don’t manage to finish the bottle in one sitting, the best way to preserve the wine’s flavor is to re-cork it and stick it in the fridge. The cold temperature slows the oxidation process and ensures that your second glass will be just as refreshing as the first (at least, if you get to it quickly enough…wine does spoil).

Tortillas

Photo Credit: Free Images

The next time you buy tortillas for Taco Tuesday, make sure to think ahead about where you’re going to store the leftover wraps. Just like bread, tortillas grow mold rather quickly when left out at room temperature for more than a week. Storing them in the fridge will help ensure your crispy quesadilla satisfies your midnight snack craving.

The post These Foods Do Not Belong in Your Pantry appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

A Couple’s Gender Reveal Party Ended With A Plane Crash

Gender reveal parties are getting way out of hand, and this hard-to-believe story about a gender reveal party that ended with a plane crash is proof.

A couple in Turkey, Texas, rented a crop-duster plane and pilot for their over-the-top gender reveal party. The plan was for the plane to fly over the guests and drop pink water — for a girl, duh! The water would turn into pink mist and float all over the guests. And even we can admit the Instagram photos would have been pretty amazing…if the plane hadn’t, uh, crashed.

Photo Credit: iStock

The plane stalled out after dumping its 350 gallons of pink water, possibly due to a shock to its system. It was going “too slow,” CNN reports, and subsequently crashed into the ground. Luckily, it was flying at low altitude for the stunt — but still, a plane crash is a plane crash.

One passenger on the plane had minor injuries, but the pilot made it out without a scratch. The plane was apparently designed to carry only one person, so it’s not clear why there was a passenger in the first place.

Photo Credit: iStock

This disaster is just one in a long string of gender reveal parties gone horribly wrong. One led to a wildfire, while another resulted in an accidental pipe bomb that exploded and killed a grandmother.

All this, despite the inventor of gender reveal parties literally begging people to stop the madness!

Let’s stop, shall we?

The post A Couple’s Gender Reveal Party Ended With A Plane Crash appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

Goodwill Workers Reveal the Item They Wish People Would Stop Donating

You know that feeling you get when you finally sort through your belongings and take your old crap to Goodwill? Well, you might have to rethink that. Not every used item is a good candidate for Goodwill (or any other thrift store), and nobody knows that better than the employees who have to sort through all your old stuff.

A Reddit user asked Goodwill store workers for the one item they wish people would stop donating. Some employees had trouble choosing just one!

1. Broken, dirty, or chewed-up items.

“So so many things. I have to say these shops are not somewhere you should dump your trash. No one wants broken toys and chewed books. We are not ungrateful but it costs us to dispose of these things. I do not want to handle your dirty torn underpants.

I almost had a serious injury when one donor wrapped up blades from a blender in a towel and dumped them in a bag full of clothes. Please don’t do that.”

2. VHS tapes.

“I remember about ten years ago reading that charity shops were stopping accepting VHS tapes because there was such a glut of them.

One person complained that they’d enjoyed getting five VHS tapes for £1… which was pretty much missing the point. VHSs are large and bulky, take up storage space and the staff still have to process them- all for 20p each. Nice for him, not so good for the workers and charity that’s supposed to be benefiting, and probably why they stopped accepting them.

Not to mention that half those tapes probably would have gone unsold and cost money to dispose of.

‘Course, nowadays most of those worthless, mass-market VHS tapes are probably landfill, and it’s 10-to-15-year-old DVDs that my local branch of CEX is selling for 50p each…”

3. Mismatched items.

“Shoes with no fellow, items that don’t work right, clothes that are badly stained.”

4. Sentimental items.

“Folks, go through your stuff before you donate – I once found a memorial album someone had made for a woman who had died, and another time I found an old friendship book full of names and addresses. Really made me wonder what the people who worked in the charity shop were thinking.”

“Someone accidentally donated an urn, complete with cremated ashes.”

“Personalized items. I’m talking about wedding things, shirts, and anything with names on them. I found a memorial shirt one time and I was wondering why someone would donate something like that.”

5. Literal garbage.

“I haven’t worked there in over a decade, but: garbage. People would dump bags and bags of garbage in front of the store overnight, and I mean shit that no reasonable person would ever consider to be anything but garbage.

Busted up concrete. Rusty metal. Basically shit they didn’t want to pay to have hauled away, and couldn’t be fucked to take all the way to the dump.”

6. 50 Shades of Grey.

“I remember a while ago I saw a side news story covering how a bunch of charity places were asking people to stop donating book copies of Fifty Shades of Grey. I seem to recall one store had enough copies they made a book fort out of them.”

7. Old-school TV stands.

“Cleaning out my senior parents’ place we tried to donate a very expensive built in tv stand made of oak. Turns out flat screens don’t fit in them and they never get sold.”

8. Outdated electronics.

“Generally if your electronic device is older than 10ish years the store is probably not going to be able to sell it, 5ish for TVs. The exception is very well-kept and well packaged game consoles.”

9. Personal hygiene items.

“Don’t donate used (honestly don’t donate new) makeup, mouthwash, cleaners, or pretty much anything liquid.”

10. Vintage magazines.

“Do not donate your stack of old Readers Digest magazines from 1994-1998 that was in your bathroom collecting poo particles for years.”

11. Unwashed clothes.

“You know the stank that most Goodwill stores have? They don’t wash donations before putting them out. They just go straight on the racks.”

12. Light bulbs.

“Compact fluorescent light bulbs: please stop. How nice you switched to LED, but nobody buys used CFLs, and since they are classified as hazardous waste due to mercury, we are back to your ‘donation’ actually costs the charity money since we have to properly dispose of them.”

13. Clothes with stuff in the pockets.

“Be sure to check the pockets in your clothes before donating. Around this time of year we find a metric crapton of used tissues and cough drops hidden inside pockets. Our employees get sick pretty frequently from handling so much product, please don’t make it harder on us.”

14. Used undergarments.

“You would be really surprised by the number of people who think it’s okay to donate used underwear. I honestly didn’t realize that people would even consider doing that, but apparently they do.”

“It happens pretty frequently. Another big thing is women who donate pants they’ve worn without wearing underwear to protect the clothing from vaginal fluids. People don’t realize that’s a thing most of the time.”

15. Bootleg DVDs.

“I used to work for the Salvos, and early on in my tenure there, we would get loads of these bootleg DVD’s people would pick up in Bali. Those always ended up in the bin because the packaging was just a flimsy plastic envelope and the label printing quality was awful.”

The post Goodwill Workers Reveal the Item They Wish People Would Stop Donating appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

Amazon Prime Offers TV Programs for Your Cat

Amazon Prime has a brand new solution if you feel guilty about leaving your pets at home: TV for cats.

This is real.

The streaming service is full of videos to entertain indoor cats, featuring footage of birds, chipmunks, squirrels, and more birds. The service could keep cats from getting bored while you’re at work all day — or you could even throw the TV on for your indoor cat while you’re home.

The videos include such riveting titles as “Movies for Cats – Forest Birds and Chipmunks,” “Songbirds and Squirrels on a Tree,” and “Baby Robin’s Day Out.” The videos mimic the experience of looking out the window, watching the birds and other critters.

The only potential side effect of cat TV? Your cat may end up attempting to hunt your television. This genre gives “reality TV” a whole new meaning.

Photo Credit: Amazon Prime Screenshot

If you don’t have Amazon Prime, your cats can still enjoy the same experience, because YouTube is full of videos for cats for free. In fact, these free videos were the inspiration behind Amazon Prime’s Cat TV service, according to a blog post.

Amazon Fire TV software engineer Sue Kim says her cat Ruby adores these videos.

“I simply leave the video playing when I leave for work, and that occupies Ruby until her nap,” Sue writes. “She also doesn’t get so upset when I leave.”

Dogs would likely enjoy watching cat TV too, especially the shows with squirrels or chipmunks. Bonus: The nature-oriented videos seem pretty darn calming for humans, too!

The post Amazon Prime Offers TV Programs for Your Cat appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

People Brainstorm How They’d Drink a 12-Pack Everyday for a $1 Million Prize

Every so often, someone comes to AskReddit with a totally absurd hypothetical question. In this case, the question was about how one would manage to drink a 12-pack of beer every single day for a month while still holding down a job. The prize?

A million dollars.

As many Redditors pointed out, drinking a 12-pack every day is just standard for many alcoholics. But for the rest of us? People came up with some truly creative solutions to this truly random problem.

1. Vacation time, duh.

“Use four weeks of vacation and head to Mexico. Drink no other beer but Tecate Light. Come back home. Collect $1 million.”

“Save up a month’s worth of leave. Make the month February. Stay at home and just enjoy media.”

2. Drink light beer.

“My father was a psychiatrist and worked on drug and alcohol wards.

The typical American beer has a alcohol level that is designed to give a buzz but not get you drunk. A twelve pack fits perfectly in this business model.

He treated many functioning alcoholics who drank a case of beer a day.

A twelve pack was the most common amount drunk.”

3. Start right after work ends.

“Drink after work. I’m a reasonably-sized guy with a passable tolerance, I’ll just start as soon as my day ends. Mornings gonna suuuuck but I can live with it for a month for a flat mil.”

4. Or split it up throughout the day.

“Definitely need to split it up and hide some of the drinking. Down a couple when you get up (before you brush your teeth of course). Sneak one over lunch, maybe another around 3 as well. 8 is much more manageable in terms of not ending up rough the next morning.”

“1.wake up one beer get ready for the day

2. 2 beers at lunch time (food slows the absorption of alcohol into the liver)

3. Get home and start cranking as many as you can before dinner at 6 or 7.

4. Hopefully only have 3 left for after dinner which means you’ll be done before 9 with ample time to do prepare yourself so you are not hungover the next day”

5. Or even throughout the night.

“I came up with the same, although I set an alarm for 3 am and pound two then back to bed.”

6. Non-alcoholic beer.

“Make it non alcoholic beer et voila.”

7. Open all the beers at once.

“Open 9 beer and let them flatten in the fridge during work (To prevent being all bloated and gassy). Moment I get off start drinking. Eat dinner while drinking. Follow every 3 beer with water, walk to the grocery store, drunk groceries should naturally grab me alot of carbs which will be good. Also help me walk off alot of calories. Chug a quarter gallon of water before bed (Pee breaks constantly). Go to bed early! alarm set early, sugar and Tylenol ready to go in the morning try to work out before work to burn more calories, lots of veg and lean protein for lunch.”

8. Make a deal with the boss.

“”Hey boss, if I can slam a case of beers every day for a month and don’t get fired I get a hundred grand!” Offer a 50/50 split and boom $950,000 in the pocket.”

9. Work retail.

“Work in retail. Nobody cares.”

“Worked in retail, sent people home for showing up drunk. Didn’t fire them, was more expensive to train someone new who’d also have their own issues that to just send this guy home a couple times a month.”

10. Be a high-functioning alcoholic.

“Start drinking as soon as I get home from work until I go to sleep. Rinse repeat. So no changes really.”

“I drank a 12 pack a day for almost 2 years, the key is to have a drinking problem.”

The post People Brainstorm How They’d Drink a 12-Pack Everyday for a $1 Million Prize appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

15 People Share the Biggest Mistakes They’ve Made in Life

All of us have regrets and things we wish we would’ve done differently in our lives. Some are more extreme than others, but, as the saying goes, “That’s life.”

In this AskReddit article, people went on the record and shared the biggest mistakes they’ve made in life…so far…

1. That’s not good.

“I tried to walk across a guard rail and ended up slipping and hitting my gooch in just the right spot that it tore my urethra. Had a catheter for about 3 months after that.”

2. Never be whole again…

“On my 16 birthday my much older brother killed himself. My regret is that I had called him to ask him to come out with my friends and I to celebrate at a local restaurant. But on the first ring thought “He probably doesn’t want to hang out with a bunch of 15-16 year olds” and hung up the phone. They found his body the next morning. I will never be whole again.”

3. Not happy with the choices.

“Choosing the wrong degree multiple times. A few years ago finally decided on Computer Science… and I fucking hate it. Only have like 8ish classes left so I would be stupid not to finish it but I have no desire to do anything computer science related.”

4. Debt for days.

“Quitting a job before I had another one (long story), which led to my savings being drained and my credit card debt soaring through the roof.

I’ve recovered about a year later, but my savings are basically non-existent as I spent all of my excess paying down debt.”

5. Still in therapy.

“Holding onto hate and resentment about my dad, has fucked up mentally. Instead of dealing with it in a healthy way, I’ve held onto the hate and resentment and have blamed him for everything wrong in my life. I’m in therapy now and trying to unlearn toxic behaviours.”

6. Just want to be functional.

“Tried to kill myself when I was 24. Did the whole inpatient thing and therapy. Now I’m 28, still living with my parents and struggling to win the battle with my mental health. Really frustrating. I just want to be a functional adult.”

7. That’s intense.

“Having a kid with wrong person. Really ends your life for the most part.”

8. A lot of people do this…

“Staying with someone for way too long because I thought I could help them.

I was 25 when I met her, she was broken and very needy. She had a lot of issues with herself, mainly she always felt insecure and inadequate. For those times when she was ok, everything was amazing and she was the best person to be around with. But those times were rare, she was jealous about anyone and everyone. I didn’t even hang around my friends anymore because she would make me feel guilty later on and she could never get along with them. I always thought I could help her, but only after everything fell apart did I realize that in my effort to always be there for her I broke myself.

We broke up 2 years ago, I’m now 33 and just starting to fix relationships that I’ve abandoned because I was too focused on her. I don’t blame her at all because that was my choice, but it’s been hard.”

9. Just let that go.

“Being scared of what people thought about me.”

10. You can quit!

“Starting to smoke.”

11. Now what?

“Being a floater. Meaning being friends with multiple friend groups in life without really being a solid part in any one. Left with none eventually.”

12. Still regret it.

“Probably dropping out of my dream college to be closer to my now ex.

Regret that decision every single day…”

13. Married to the wrong person.

“Getting married to the wrong person. It led to a lengthy divorce in which time my ex tanked me financially . It took me years to recover.”

14. This is very true.

“Losing friends because I didn’t put effort into maintaining the relationship. Nobody tells you when you’re a kid just how hard it is to make new friends once you’re past your college years.”

15. Say no to drugs.

“Took a very large dose of a research chemical thinking it’d be like acid, went clinically insane for like a year and require inpatient hospitalization. Took me two years after that to build my life up and have a career, but I was never totally the same. Such is life.”

Wow…some of those are pretty rough…

What do you think is the worst mistake you’ve made in your life so far?

Feel free to share with us in the comments. We’d love to hear from you. No judgment here!

The post 15 People Share the Biggest Mistakes They’ve Made in Life appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

People Discuss What Makes Them Immediately Lose Romantic Interest in Someone

You’ve probably been here before: you’re talking to someone or maybe you’re on a first date, things seem to be going just fine and then, BOOM…they say or do something that immediately makes you lose interest.

You know what I’m talking about, right?

AskReddit users shared the things that make them immediately lose interest in a person…let’s take a look.

1. So, back to me…

“When you come to them with a problem and they turn it into a conversation about them.”

2. Pity party.

“If they constantly make you feel bad for them. Felt so bad and was so worried about him for so long that the one time I needed the emotion I couldn’t have it.”

3. Take it down a notch.

“When they don’t know the difference between being funny and being obnoxious.”

4. I’ll take your word for it.

“If they say the words “I know I’m an asshole/bitch”. Like okay I’ll take your word for it. Also if it becomes apparent that they have no self-awareness.”

5. Forget the haters.

“They enjoy putting other people and their hobbies down.”

6. I’m back!

“Ghosting you then suddenly popping up out of the blue when they want attention. Yes Brittany I know what is happening when you call me, you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel and I resent the fuck out of being the bottom (wait that could mean another thing but you know the thing I mean.)”

7. Lack of situational awareness.

“Don’t know how to act in public/ are unaware of feelings other than their own.”

8. Who is the real problem here?

“If ALL of their exes were “toxic” or “crazy”

We all have one or two bad ones, but seriously it’s not ALWAYS that.”

9. That’s gross.

“Doing dumb things and should know better. We had a new guy join our Friday social group. Very nice guy. Attractive. At the bar, he took his old gum out of his mouth and stuck it to the bottom of the table. Really? So trashy.”

10. Definitely not cool.

“Selfishness. I am very considerate of others and I am slowly learning that I think I need someone that is too.”

11. Gimme something!

“When they have seemingly no opinion, no voice. When every answer is “I don’t care” or “I don’t know.” Like Jesus Christ I’m trying to find out what you like so that we can talk. Gimme something!”

12. Sounds pretty classy.

“Chewing tobacco. I’m also not a fan of smoking, but it’s not necessarily an instant deal breaker like chewing tobacco is. The truth is, I have seen too many men who would sit there and chew tobacco and then spit it into an empty Dr. Pepper bottle, and it grosses me out more than I can express.”

13. Let’s not meet again.

“Went out with a guy once who talked 90% of the time, 85% of that being about how much money he had made, how much he spent on his now ex wife, all the nice cars he had… I picked HIM up because he didn’t have a ride to meet up. He was legitimately confused why I didn’t want to spend the night with him when I went to drop his ass off. Never saw him ever again.”

14. This! Yes!

“Being rude to customer service people.”

15. Ugh! Run for the hills!

“If they say I love you on the first date. Creepy AF.”

I had a feeling these responses would be pretty enlightening.

Now it’s your turn! What immediately turns you off from a person?

Tell us about it in the comments!

The post People Discuss What Makes Them Immediately Lose Romantic Interest in Someone appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

A Doctor Draws Sweet, Thoughtful Pictures on Patients’ Post-Op Dressings

This doctor is taking adorably wholesome to a whole new level – by hiding his little patients’ new scars with cute drawings of beloved characters.

Dr. Robert Parry is the director of pediatric surgery at Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio, and he’s also the artist behind cute little cartoon drawings meant to make kids feel less scared when they come out of surgery.

#3. January 2017: Although the pen may not be mightier than the scalpel, pediatric surgeon Dr. Robert Parry always takes…

Posted by Akron Children's Hospital on Wednesday, January 1, 2020

He picks the characters based on the child’s favorite, since he spends good amounts of time with them before a surgery takes place.

Image Credit: Facebook

Parents of Dr. Parry’s patients say the drawings – and the doctor – made a hard thing just a bit easier by remembering that his patients were small.

Image Credit: Facebook

The kids wake up excited to see their drawing instead of worried about what their body might look like after its been cut open.

Image Credit: Facebook

Dr. Parry says the images take about 5 minutes to create, and that he loves doing it because it just makes everyone involved in the process feel good.

Although the pen may not be mightier than the scalpel, pediatric surgeon Robert Parry always takes a moment to make sure…

Posted by Akron Children's Hospital on Saturday, January 21, 2017

And if you can accomplish that in a scenario that involves kids and hospitals, well, that’s really something special.

What do you think about these awesome dressings? Let us know in the comments!

The post A Doctor Draws Sweet, Thoughtful Pictures on Patients’ Post-Op Dressings appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

According to Science, Your Second Child Was Born to Be Wild

There have been several studies (and also people claiming to know stuff who basically make it up based on personal experience) about the role that birth order plays in our personalities and development.

It seems first-borns are leaders, and also more prone to anxiety. Youngest kids are spoiled, middle kids are good at fending for themselves, and on and on.

What (real) science has strong evidence for, though, is that your second-born child is more likely to behave badly – even once they’re an adult.

Image Credit: Pixabay

A 2017 study from MIT, The University of Florida, and Northwestern University found that there’s a good chance your second child – especially if he’s a boy – will have more behavioral issues than his (or her) older sibling.

Lead author Joseph Doyle and his team studied thousands of family in Denmark and in Florida, and found that those second-born kiddos are not only more likely to challenge their parents more in early childhood, but also are more likely to have problems at school…or even with the law.

“Second-born boys are on the order of 20 to 40 percent more likely to be disciplined in school and enter the criminal justice system compared to first-born boys even when we compare siblings.”

Image Credit: Pixabay

The researchers believe the reason for this is mostly “differences in parental attention,” which they consider “a potential contributing factor to the gaps in delinquency across the birth order.”

“Second-born children tend to have less maternal attention than do their older siblings because first-born children experience their mother’s maternity leaves and temporarily reduced labor market participation both following their own births as well as following the birth of the second-born.”

They also believe that who the child looks up to for guidance on how to act could play a part.

“The firstborn has role models who are adults. And the second, later-born children have role models who are slightly irrational 2-year-olds, you know, their older siblings,” Doyle told NPR.

I take issue with the “slightly” modifier on “irrational,” but the rest makes sense.

image Credit: Pixabay

In the end, we know there’s not a whole lot we can do with the information; younger kids will always idolize the older ones, and there’s only so much time, so many hands, and so much attention to go around.

It’s worth keeping in mind, though. Maybe try to tip the scales by scheduling 1-on-1 time between a parent and each child separately, letting the younger child be the star of the day on occasion, or just being more aware of who is getting the bulk of your time.

Easier said than done, for sure, but you don’t want to spend all of your hard-earned college savings on bail money and legal fees, do you?

Just something to think about…

The post According to Science, Your Second Child Was Born to Be Wild appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

A Biology Professor Explained Why Defining Sex and Gender Is Actually Not Simple At All

Sex and gender are much more complicated than most people want to believe. And in a world where many, many brave folks are coming forward to say that they don’t want to be categorized with the sex they were born with, or that they don’t identify with a particular gender at all, or a hundred other combinations of some or all of these things, others (who have never questioned what’s on their birth certificate) are confused.

How can this be true, they ask? Gender is the same as sex, isn’t it? And we just are what we are?

Well, here’s the thing – it turns out that chromosomally, cellularly, and biologically, sex and gender are not black and white, not easily defined, and are often fluid. And that’s not even layering a social or psychological aspect on top of it all.

Don’t believe me? Good, you shouldn’t – I’m a writer, not a biologist!

But Rebecca R. Helm is a biologist, and she recently tweeted an insanely insightful thread about how complicated it can be to classifying biological gender.

The best way to combat confusion is with knowledge, so buckle up and let’s go for a little learning ride, shall we?

First, she acknowledges that, on the outside, determining one’s biological sex might seem simple.

But right away, when you learn just a tiny bit more about those X and Y chromosomes, things begin to get more complicated.

And she keeps going, giving us a rundown of things possible and known, and everything out there that’s still a mystery, until – even though I’m educated and consider myself fairly quick on the uptake – I had to admit I was out of my depth.

And what should we do when we’re out of our depth? Defer to the experts, of course, who are comfortable in the deeper water and willing to hold your head above water, too.

So, let’s all take Rebecca R. Helm’s advice and just try to be kind to people.

Biological sex might not be simple to parse or grasp, but you know what is? Listening to what another human being is telling you about the body they inhabit and referring to them how they ask you to.

That’s something we can all start doing right now.

The post A Biology Professor Explained Why Defining Sex and Gender Is Actually Not Simple At All appeared first on UberFacts.