Category: life

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Rare Pennies Are Circulating out There Worth up to $200,000

Did you know that Americans throw away about $62 million each year by tossing coins in the trash, and pennies are the most frequently discarded coins of them all? A lot of people just don’t see pennies as valuable, and mostly they’re right. But some specific types of pennies are worth up to $200,000.

Coin collectors are willing to spend many thousands of dollars for coins that are precious in some way or another. For pennies, the value all depends on the coin’s quality and its rarity.

Pennies that are prized enough to fetch $200,000 are rare (obviously), but they’re out there, which means they could be in your pocket or change jar.

The 1943 bronze Lincoln cent, for example, is an extremely rare error coin that is easily worth $150,000 to $200,000 – or even more. Only a handful of these pennies have ever been found, and the most valuable one sold in 2010 for $1.7 million.

The 1969-S Doubled Die Obverse is another error coin in which the images and words were mistakenly doubled on the coin. They have sold for $35,000 to $75,000, depending on the condition.

The 1992 Close AM is a bit easier to find. These coins are unique because the A and M in the word “America” are touching, whereas usually there is a space between them. There were likely 250,000 pennies produced with this anomaly, and they can sell for anywhere from $2000 to over $20,000.

Other pennies that are easier to find, and therefore worth less, include the 1972 Doubled Die Obverse ($100-$500), 1995 Doubled Die Obverse (up to $45), the 1999 Wide AM (up to $500), and the 1983 Double Die Reverse (up to $200).

If you think you’ve found one of these pennies, consult a professional to evaluate it and help guide you through the selling process.

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A College Drop-Out Spent 11 Years in Bed Due to Mysterious Illness, Invented a Surgery to Cure Himself

At 21 years of age, Doug Lindsay was forced to drop out of college due to a mysterious condition that doctors were unable to solve for the next 11 years — until he invented his own cure.

Doug spent the years of his illness mostly confined to a hospital bed at home in St. Louis, Missouri. His symptoms included weakness, dizziness, and a racing heartbeat. He couldn’t stand for more than a few minutes at a time.

Doctors were stumped; no treatments seemed to help. The condition was hereditary, however. Doug’s mom suffered from the same thing, as did his aunt.

While at school, Doug had picked up a 2200-page endocrinology textbook, hoping to use it to figure out his mother’s condition. From it, he determined that his illness stemmed from his adrenal glands.

During his many years of bedridden life, he continued to immerse himself in medical research and old medical textbooks. He also consulted with specialists from endocrinology, neurology, internal medicine, and other specialties.

This work eventually led Doug to experiment with a new drug for his condition, which allowed him to be active for short periods of time around the house. In 2006, he came up with a diagnosis: bilateral adrenal medullary hyperplasia. In other words, his adrenal glands were producing too much adrenaline.

This discovery led Doug to invent a surgery to cure the problem, without ever even having obtained a college degree. After finally convincing a surgeon to try his new operation (pioneering a surgery is not at all simple), in 2010 and 2012, he underwent surgeries to remove the medullas from his adrenal glands, curbing his adrenaline production.

Doug still has to take medication for his condition — but he has his life back. He now works as a medical consultant and serves as an inspiration to chronic illness sufferers around the world.

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“I couldn’t be an assistant manager at Trader Joe’s. I don’t have the physical ability for that,” Doug said. “But I can travel and give speeches and go for walks. And I can try to change the world.”

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15 Creeped-Out People Share the Scariest Things They’ve Ever Seen in Their Lives

Okay, creeper time.

Have you ever been totally creeped out by something you saw out in the middle of nowhere? Might have been in the woods, in a rural area, in the mountains, etc.?

AskReddit users went on the record and shared their personal stories and they will give you the willies!

1. What do you expect in Transylvania?

“Went on a mountain hike in Transylvania with a group of friends from school, and way up, after maybe 12-14 km of trekking, we saw a house….was in the middle of nowhere. It had a barn, with a few animals, couple of cows, chicken, etc. As we get closer, we see a few people, a guy and 5-6 women. Not sure if there were more inside. The dude comes to greet us, barely speaking the language. We had a hard time understanding what he’s saying. They lived without electricity, gas, anything. This is in the early ’90s, so there’s no internet, mobile phones to worry about. At least for most people.

Anyway, they all looked weird, kinda dumb expressions on their face, we can barely understand eachother. They asked us who’s the president now, and if we want some milk. They look at our clothes and shoes weirdly, curious…like who knows when is the last time they had human contact. Or maybe there were more crazies around those parts…dunno. Not sure to this day what was going on. It’s not typical in the region, so we kinda freaked out, especially cause the dude looked a bit disturbed, and we were too young.

We were looking around to see if there’s more of them, paranoia was getting to us, thinking there must be a village nearby. What was also weird is that all the women kept their distance, and never got close to us. Like he was guarding them, or checking us out, if it’s safe for them.

One of my friends kept saying we don’t want their milk, and we need to go, cause it’s getting dark. We walked calmly for a while, then when we thought we’re out of their sight, bolted like crazy out of there. Needless to say, we camped after a few hours, and we always had one person awake to keep watch.

We told people that were living in the villages near that area, about the “mountain people”, and they didn’t believe us. They said nobody lives there, up in the mountains.”

2. OH MY GOD

“I was driving home after an extremely late night at work, I lived in the middle of nowhere, about a mile before I got there a woman covered in blood jumped out of the woods into the middle of the road screaming. I panicked and went around her then slammed on the breaks to help.

Her boyfriend had beaten her and was currently chasing after her in the woods. I got her in my car and called the police, they met us at the hospital because I told them there was no way I was waiting on the side of the road when he was coming.”

3. Get outta there!

“I was driving through rural parts of Missouri with a buddy. We drove down a single lane road that had no exit. At the end of the road, there was a group of deer corpses laid in a perfect circle. I’d say there was at least 10 deer.

We BTFO real quick.”

4. Terrifying

“I’d been at football training with a few of my cousins when I was about 10 years old.

We decided to take a walk before our parents picked us up, so we went along the canal towpath. My cousin looked down in the canal and say a really nice jacket floating along and being a weird scavenger person decided to reach in to fish it out.

Well, the jacket turned over. And so did the man wearing it. He also had no face left.

Not gonna lie, that was rough.”

5. Yikes

“My boyfriend and I were walking through the woods on a nature trail when we came across a piece of alligator tail and foot that had been ripped off and the rest of the body was gone.

I freaked out – all I kept thinking was I have no idea what’s big enough to kill and eat an entire alligator, but I don’t want to meet it.

We cautiously kept walking and a few hundred feet later saw a giant, probably 10 foot at least, alligator walking along the shoreline with a whole smaller, dead alligator in its mouth.

And that was the day I learned that alligators were cannibals.”

6. That’s weird

“I was mountain biking in the woods and I came across an east Asian looking man in a perfectly fitted suit and a briefcase. Just casually walking through the woods.”

7. Creeper

“When I was about 7 or 8, my parents sent me to a local summer camp that they would pick me up from in the afternoons. I never really liked it because the kids were mean, everything was either broken or not clean, and the counselors obviously didn’t care. I remember the girl’s changing room had a door that lead out to the woods but the doorknob was gone so it was unlocked all the time and you could see into it.

This was primarily where the girls changed into their bathing suits and there was usually someone blocking the view while we changed so the boys couldn’t look in. Well, one day I’m changing alone and someone wasn’t blocking the door. I look over and see an eye peeping in through the hole watching me change. I pull the rest of my clothes back on quickly and run out to tell my twin brother.

I tell my dad that I don’t want to go back to that camp anymore and he begrudgingly takes us out of the camp pretty soon after because he knew how much we hated it. Years later, the camp has been closed down for many many years and I’m asking my dad about it. He gets really grim and tells me it shut down because a 13 year old boy had raped 7 year old girl in the woods right behind the girl’s bathroom a few weeks after I had told him about someone watching me change.”

8. Camping

“Cowlitz river. Washington State. Camping with my dad and sister me buddies, early ’90s. Something was throwing rocks and sticks into our camp. We shined a flashlight out and caught a reflection of eyes and a silouete. Very very tall. Kept throwing stuff in our camp randomly for about 15 minutes. We just stoked the fire really high. In the morning I woke up to heavy footsteps in our camp and something reeked. Woke up my dad. He shook the tent and yelled. Whatever it was ran off.”

9. Run!

“My girlfriend and I were hiking along some abandoned railroad tracks and we get to a small bridge going over a little creek. I’m about to go explore under the bridge when she points something out. I look over and in the woods across from us I see a guy.

I’m like whatever and keep headed down to the creek area and then the guy stands up and he’s naked. We immediately back track pretty quickly to get away from there and once were like 1 minute down the trail I look back and this naked dude is just standing in the middle of the trail watching us walk away.”

10. On the playground

“While I was walking to High School I saw the body of a young girl that had hung herself from a swing set. Police were just putting the bag over the body when I was going by. The City ripped down the playground and built a new one shortly after.”

11. In the Australian bush

“This took place in the Australian bush around 10/11 at night.

I was 17, leading a staggered column of about 60 Cadets to our detachment campsite. Due to light discipline rules, only myself at the very front of the group and the other flight commander at the rear had torches on. This was so that any vehicles coming along the trail could see us and so that most of the cadets could maintain their night vision(we were camouflaged up and thus difficult to see at night).

As we walked along I periodically looked to my sides, and kept seeing what looked like dew drops on the ground. Almost like tiny blue gems glinting in my torch light either side of the road.I had to maintain my position in the formation, so I couldn’t get a good look at what they were.

However, after a while we stopped for a very brief break, and I took the opportunity to have a closer look. Walking over to the side of the trail I spotted a small cluster of the “diamonds” and focused my head torch on them. Rather than seeing diamonds or dew drops or anything remotely pleasant, I instead saw a group of about 5 large spiders just crouching in the leaf litter and staring at me.

They looked like huntsmans which are about the size of an adults hand. Sweeping my head around, I realised there were thousands of the things. All over the ground, some on the trunks of trees, and everywhere around me; glaring at the light affixed to my head.

I had a very brisk walk back to the formation and attempted to play it cool while screaming in my head. Being a massive Arachnophobe, I have no fucking clue how I managed to set up a tent and spend the next week in that cursed forest.”

12. Don’t go there at night

“I was in a large wooded area near my BF’s home, with him, hanging out nearly at midnight. We had gone in pretty deep and it required a good amount of climbing. The closest path was maybe 5-7 min climbing down so it was highly unlikely someone could be at that spot, that time of the night, besides us.

As we were kissing and stuff he thought he saw a shadow move 20 – 25 feet to the left of us, climbing, but it stopped suddenly when my bf looked at it. He told me to be wary and that exact moment we saw a dark figure climbing a little up but diagonally, like he tried to go directly above where we were.

We didn’t move and watch him till he closed the horizontal gap and was directly above us maybe 15 feet of steep downhill thick forest. Then he began to come towards us.

Without skipping a bit my bf grabbed my hand and we almost ran downhill till the path. We made it in less that two minutes while still holding hands and listening to the man running behind us. We ran as fast as we could down the path and out of the forest where there was a cafe and some basketball and tennis courts next to the wooded hill, and of course, people.

As we realised we came really close to be mugged or worse, we vowed never to go there at night again. ? “

13. Terrible

“I found a woman’s body floating in a harbor in San Pedro, CA.”

14. Flipping out

“In Auburn, AL in 2008. It was halloween and we googled haunted houses. I cant remember what the website was like or if there even was one, but it was like 45 min away. I know that it wasnt like a big attraction and we figured it was on someones land and would be like a local deal. We drove out there at like 10pm. This was before iphones and GPS so we had mapquest directions.

We ended up going down a pretty country road for a while with no street lights, then turned down a legit dirt road that went through the woods. Pitch black. Went down it for like 10 minutes and finally saw an old house with a sign by the driveway that was handwritten and said “Haunted House”. No other cars or lights or people anywhere We pulled in the driveway and sat there for a second like “alright this is fucked up, we should leave”.

All of the sudden an old pick up truck turned on about 15 ft in front of us facing us, lights shining right in our faces. It started driving towards us (down their own driveway).We backed out and peeled out. It followed us, like almost bumping our rear end. Right on our tail down this pitch black dirt road in the middle of the Alabama woods.

We were flipping our shit. It was texas chainsaw massacre/hills have eyes stuff. He stayed out our tail blinding us and almost bumping us all the way back home until we got off our exit and he finally let us go. No idea who was driving.

I always think what would have happened if we got out of the car when we were in that driveway.”

15. This one is crazy

“My boyfriend and I were backpacking through rural Tasmania a few years ago. While on a bus, we were discussing our plans for the ensuing two weeks. The girl in the seat in front turns around and offers us a place to stay in her town. We declined as we were headed elsewhere first, but she gave us her mobile number and said that she and her partner would love to have us.

A few days later we decide to take them up on their offer. We call her, and she says they’re happy to host us. So far so good.

They meet us at the train station and immediately something feels off. It’s really difficult to explain, but it’s that primal, ineffable feeling in your guts that tells you that something isn’t right. We ignored our guts and followed them.

They lead us straight out of town. We ask them where we’re going and they say that they live on the outskirts. This town is creepy as fuck. It’s an old mining town that has been largely abandoned, and as we walk the 15-odd minutes to their home the houses get shittier, with boarded up windows, overgrown gardens and no people in sight.

Eventually we reach the house at the very end of the town. It’s their house. We go in.

Set up in the middle of the living room is a single mattress with a sheet hanging around it. They show us around the house except for one door which stays closed. When I asked what was behind it they pretended not to hear. Our room has a made bed, chest of drawers and looks like a normal room. It seems weird that they sleep on mattresses in the living room when they have a “guest room”.

We go back into the living room and look around. Knives. A lot of knives. My boyfriend asks if they go hunting? No. The partner hands one of the knives to my boyfriend and asks him to open it. It’s a massive fucking bowie knife with what looks like blood staining around the edges of the blade. My boyfriend laughs awkwardly and sets it down.

They have a tattoo gun – “to practice”. My boyfriend asks if they have any tattoos. No. There’s a small axe at the door. I ask if they collect wood. No.

Suddenly the guy says he wants to go to the shops. We agree quickly because we’re creeped out and want to get back into the town.

The four of us leave and they start walking in the opposite direction to the town. I say that the town is back the other way. The guy says this way would be more interesting because it goes up through the trees. He says that they have never been up the mountain before but he knows the area and it would take the same amount of time.

I tell my boyfriend that I’m freaking out but he thinks it’s ok. We follow them into the trees. The path goes up the mountain. We are going in the total opposite direction of the town.

The girl turns around to her partner and whispers – “so where was the place again?”

My boyfriend and I freeze. I say I want to take the road back to town and start walking.

When the four of us arrive in the one shop in town – no one recognises the couple. And this is a really small town. We make an excuse that we want to go look at sights and that we’ll catch up with them later, and instead book a hotel room and freak out.

I did some snooping on the area. Their house had an extra room (behind the mystery door) and a basement. The path that we were taking led straight out of town and up the mountain. There was no way it could loop back into town.

So yeah pretty sure we narrowly avoided being murdered. Or maybe they were just massive weirdos. Tbh the creepiest thing was the fact that there was no drug paraphernalia at all – the state of the house and the weird behaviour would have been understandable if they were intoxicated but that wasn’t the case.”

Pure nightmare fuel!

Have you had any experiences like this? Share in the comments!

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This Is Why so Many Ancient Statues Are Missing Their Noses

If you’ve ever spent time in a museum, you may have noticed that a lot of ancient sculptures are mysteriously nose-less.

One of the most famous examples of this phenomenon is the Great Sphinx of Ancient Egypt.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

But the Great Sphinx is far from unique. Ancient sculptures from a wide range of cultures, including Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, are also missing their noses.

So what gives?

In some cases, the sculptures have been deliberately vandalized at some point in history. In Ancient Egypt, for example, people would often break off a statue’s nose in order to disable its power. The statues were thought to contain a life force, and removing the nose prevented the statue from breathing, thereby killing it.

But in the majority of cases, the missing noses on ancient statues are not the fault of humans at all. Instead, they’re the result of natural wear and tear.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

These sculptures are thousands and thousands of years old, after all. They’re often damaged in a number of ways, including discoloration, wear, and missing parts — including arms, ears, and other body parts aside from noses.

The parts of sculptures that stick out are usually the first ones to break off, because they’re less securely attached. This includes noses, arms, heads, and other appendages.

For example, the Venus de Milo is an ancient statue from Greece that was sculpted by Alexandros of Antioch around the late second century BC. It’s famous for its lack of arms.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

But that wasn’t a design choice – this sculpture did have arms at one point, they just broke off.

FYI, you can generally tell whether a body part was removed intentionally or not by looking at cut marks on the statue.

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A High School Student Came out in His Valedictorian Speech and Was Greeted with Wild Applause

It takes a lot of courage to simply get up and speak in front of a large crowd of strangers. It really takes a lot of courage to come out as bisexual in a speech – especially in a valedictorian speech at your high school.

Which is exactly what a young man named Mason Bleu did when speaking at his graduation in New York City. During his speech, Bleu told the audience, for a “long time, I have struggled with my sexuality. I’ve dodged it and ignored it because I wasn’t proud of who I am. But today I’m changing that. I’m proud to be a bisexual man.”

In a Twitter post, Bleu said, “So I came out during my valedictorian speech. It was definitely the scariest thing I’ve ever done but the reaction was amazing. Thank you to everyone who supported me!”

The reaction from parents, friends, faculty, and fellow students: a standing ovation. Take a look at the video.

In a follow-up tweet, Bleu said, “The overarching theme of the speech was about being proud (it is pride month) so I decided that I couldn’t tell people to be proud of who they are when I was in hiding for so long. Anyways, I did this not only for me but for anyone else who has struggled being closeted.”

And Bleu followed up his big coming-out party with a trip to the New York City Pride parade.

 

And he offered up a sympathetic ear to anyone who needed to talk.

Good work, Mason! You’ve undoubtedly encouraged many young people to feel comfortable with they are and where they’re headed in the future.

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People Share the Scariest Situations They’ve Experienced While Traveling

Traveling can put you in some pretty sticky situations. Being in an unfamiliar place where you might not know the language or anyone around you is a prime setting for off-putting and, in some cases, downright terrifying things to happen.

My scariest traveling situation came in Moscow when my brother, my sister and I attended a hockey game and the crowd was 99% skinheads. Let’s just say it didn’t go well, and I still tell that story 15 years later.

Here are 15 similarly disturbing traveling tales from AskReddit users that will make your hair stand on end.

1. Doesn’t sound like a party

“Went hiking in the Himalayas in Nepal when I was 18 with a friend. We were the only girls on the hike. The entire time on the first day our Nepalese guide (probably early 30’s married man) told us we were going to have a ‘chicken’ party when we got to our first night stay in a village in the mountains.

Not knowing what this was, we were very hesitant. Turns out chicken party meant that all the guys on the trek (guides and male trekkers alike) got hideously drunk and started ramming on our super thin, wooden door with a cheap, flimsy lock clucking like chooks. We spent the whole night sitting with our backs pressing against the door to stop them.”

2. Drugged

“When I visited Turkey, some people staying at our hotel came out of their room and explained that they had eaten some cake offered to them by a fellow traveller, ostensibly for his birthday, and they had fallen asleep for over a day, only to find he had cleaned them out, passports, money, etc and took off. Put me on my guard, that’s for sure.”

3. Close call

“On a flight from Atlanta to Pensacola and, as we approached to land the pilot announced that we may have to turn back because of fog. Apparently he changed his mind and decided to try landing and I am sitting there by the window watching the when the fog finally broke. We were barely above the tree tops and I could see the runway was about 500 yards on the right side. The plane suddenly starting climbing HARD and we turned around and flew back to Atlanta.

It was a close one.”

4. Lucky

“I was traveling across Europe with my girlfriend and snapping lots of pictures along the drive as we went through various EU borderless countries. While entering Italy, my girlfriend noticed the “Welcome to Italy” sign and wanted a cliche couples photo. Naturally, I agreed and we got out of the vehicle, took our cringe selfie, and drove into Italy.

20 minutes into the drive we noticed that my girlfriends purse was missing. To contextualize the story, we had been carrying every important legal document we had while we were traveling in case something went wrong and we were stopped by police/TSA. This included our passports, citizenship cards, birth certificates, and drivers licenses. Essentially, this was everything that proved we were who we said we were and there were absolutely no other records of our existence elsewhere. All of these documents were in my girlfriends purse that was now lost.

We realized we had left them at the “Welcome to Italy” sign and I quickly turned the car around and drove as fast as I legally could (I had no drivers license) back to the border. By some miracle, nobody had grabbed the purse and we got al our documents back.”

5. Phew!

“Same happened to me in Paris Gare du Nord (very busy train station). Person I was travelling with left their bag in the cafe there, with all our passports and a bunch of cash in it. He didn’t realise till we got to our destination 3 hours away. Googled the cafe number, tried to speak French to the manager, and we think he is telling us the bag is still there.

Friend gets back on a train and travels 3 hours back to Paris, and it’s still there! So much stress, and a lot of unnecessary money on train tickets, but I’m very glad Paris didn’t live up to its pick-pocket reputation that day!”

6. Passports, please

“Pulled off a bus around 1 A.M. in the morning when I was travelling from Italy to Croatia. The guards at the border of Slovenia I believe stopped the bus. They got on the bus which was dimly lit and had their guns drawn with lights illuminating from the end of their weapons. They were asking everyone for passports.

Mine was in the undercarriage. I got dragged off the bus pretty roughly and was told to kneel on the ground while the driver looked for my baggage. There were about 4 or 5 officers and 1 was behind me with his gun drawn toward me. It could have been for light but it still felt f*cking intimidating. After viewing my passport and lecturing me on always keeping it on me we went on our way.

Slovenia was not nice. Croatia was beautiful!”

7. Don’t get arrested in Africa

“Got arrested by military police in Angola. My idiot colleague was flying a drone where he wasn’t supposed to and the MPs came down with AK-47s and detained us for hours. They clearly wanted a bribe but my idiot colleague kept insisting that they weren’t corrupt because they were police. The MPs finally got sick of waiting for their bribe and freed us after saying that our hotel called and “verified our visas.” They didn’t even know our names or what hotel we were staying in.

We almost got arrested a second time because my idiot colleague started flying the drone around again immediately after we were released.”

8. Terrifying

“Saw a guy murdered at about 3 A.M. outside Rome’s main railway station. This was back in the 1980s. North African illegal immigrants got into a fight and three guys kicked and stomped another one to death.”

9. Top four

“I had lots of them. Here is my top four:

Got stopped at the Slovenian border on our way back from a holiday in croatia. They stopped us because we didn’t have a sticker for their road toll on the vehicle. As we were clearly on our way back, we were charged with dodging the toll both ways. A few border guards complete with guns and dogs also searched our car, because we might be smuggling drugs. Didn’t go down to well with my then 3-year old son, because they took his teddy bear and wanted to slice it open.

Took a night bus from Mumbay to Goa. First scary situation: We were told (after leaving) that we had to changes buses, once we left Mumbay. Got dropped of on pitch black parking lot somewhere. My wife and I were deathly afraid for about an hour, then the new bus rolled up. Next scary moment: Bus stopped for a toilet/smoke break. Jumped out of the bus, lit a cigarette, turned around and saw the bus driver. Huge eyes, wild hair and obviously on something that had kept him awake for the last week and would keep him awake for one more… Next scary moment: realizing that almost the whole way is up and down mountains. I do know about vehicles, especially trucks and busses. Seeing the bus the next morning, made my knees weak.

Went sightseeing in Cape Town. Rode a bus around, walked a bit (all in “safe” areas), took a few pictures. At a traffic light a white man whispered in my ear: “Those black dudes followed you for the last two blocks, as did I. Watch out!”. Went into a coffee shop, trying to calm our nerves. Left an hour later, none of the black dudes around. But the white guy was again following us. Ran to our car and drove off.

Got mugged somewhere in the sticks in Jamaica. when is on holiday there with my parents. Was with a tour going to some waterfall, suddenly there is guy with a machete in front of us, waving the blade and yelling stuff. Gave him all the money we had on us, as the tour guide was telling us to. In hindsight: Might have been a setup by the tour guide.”

10. The bus

“Travelling by bus across Java solo when I was 21. Night time driving in heavy traffic, the bus pulls on to a rail crossing in gridlock. you guessed it, the lights start flashing and the barriers come down in front and behind the bus. We can’t go forwards or backwards and we can see the light from a fast approaching train coming towards us.

Everyone started screaming and ran to the front door banging on the glass and begging the driver to open the door. He either couldn’t or wouldn’t. Longest couple of minutes of my life.

I decided the front of the bus was certain death, went right to the back instead and was contemplating at which moment I should start kicking the window out when someone said (in indonesian, luckily I speak it) ‘its on the other track’. there was a moment where we all held our breath..and then the train passed inches from the drivers window in front of hte bus on the other set of tracks.

Afterwards everyone sat down and started laughing like it was totally normal and we drove on. I was sitting in my seat with eyes the size of saucers no doubt! Stayed with me that one.”

11. Be careful

“I was travelling around Zambia on a three-month holiday on my own when I suddenly fell deathly ill whilst in a backpacker’s joint out in the bush. I was throwing up bile and could barely move until someone found me after almost a day and got me to the hospital in Lusaka which was an hour’s drive.

I was apparently severely dehydrated to the point that my skin was malleable like clay. The doctor had to hydrate me through a drip because I’d throw up anything I tried to drink or eat. Honestly it’s incredible how much I’ve appreciated water since that event. The memories are all a little hazy from the event but I recall being in my hospital bed and all I could think about was a tall glass of frosty water. Moral of the story is when travelling alone, be careful.”

12. Assault

“Posting for my sister.

Her and friends were out drinking in Paris and when it was time to go home the Uber app wasn’t working so they started walking back streets. A gang with their hoods up pulverizes some dude in front of them to the point of almost death. She says they are shocked, and the group starts coming at them, then runs right though her and her group of friends and around the corner.

They spent a few minutes picking up this guys shoes and trying to ask if he was ok (while he’s covered in blood) but they didn’t speak French so they left when other people arrived.

PSA: don’t walk down dark alleyways”

13. Trapped

“I was traveling abroad for the first time, also traveling without my parents for the first time, at 19 years old. I’d gone to Japan with my best friend, and we got two separate rooms at the little business hotel we were staying in about 30 minutes outside of Tokyo. Japanese hotel rooms do not (typically) have tubs the same length as those you would find in the US, but they are very deep.

I was taking a bath one night when I decided to slide down onto my back and dunk my hair to wash out the shampoo, since the little faucet situation wasn’t really working for me.

I ended up stuck and unable to get myself back up from under the water. I was only a biscuit under 5’5″ and fairly thin, I was just perfectly wedged in there. After flailing around I finally managed to grab something I could use to pull myself back up.

My next mistake was telling my mother about it the next day when we called to update our parents on our trip.”

14. Shakedown

“Phillipines, mid-1980s. Olangapo City.

Was stationed in Okinawa, had a chance for a brief leave and took it. Went alone. At the time was a cocksure U. S. Marine in my mid-20s, very physically fit, and thought I could handle any situation. By the way, Olangapo City was outside the former U. S. Air base. City was full of desperately poor thieves and hookers. Preamble complete.

Walking down the street on my way to the Air Force base, a man called out my first name. I ignored him. He then called out my first and last name. Again, I ignored him. He then repeated my name and added in my hometown. Now I’m curious, so I walked over and asked where he got this information. “Your friend from Okinawa is here. He’s drunk at a bar and sent me looking for you. He needs help! Come with me!”

Stupidly, I went with him. (It was believable, as a lot of Marines would get leaves to the Philippines. This stranger announced his name, and I did have a friend with the exact same name due to arrive in a few days.) We get in a trike (three wheeled motorcycle) and him and the driver take me to the really poor part of town. We stop at an alley filled with numerous stalls and bars meant for the locals. About a hundred feet down the alley, we enter a bar. “Looks like your friends in the bathroom… Can you buy us a beer while we wait?” I asked the bartender (young woman) for three beers. After ten minutes, I go looking in the bathroom to find it empty.

“Time for me to leave,” I announce as I returned to the bar. “How much for the beers?” The bigger of the two men says this is a “very special” bar, and each beer is the equivalent of twenty dollars. I laughed in his face, turned around, read the menu, and gave the bartender the payment plus a nice tip. When I turned around to leave, both men are on either side of the door with butterfly knives in their hands. “You go nowhere until you give us all your money,” the one said while waving the knife in the air.

“I’m an American! There’s a military base just down the road. You’re not gonna do a damned thing!” Mustering up all my courage, I walked past them, then up the alley to the main street. I finally turned around to look, and they were not following me. The adrenaline rush, shock, fear, and everything else hit me all at once and I began vomiting on the street.

Later that day I learned that the hotel staff would sell your private information to people. Also, their friendly little ‘chit-chat’ during check-in at the hotel was also sold. I checked into a new hotel later that day.”

15. Hitchhiking

“Oh man, got a couple of these.

Hitchhiking in Serbia, my friend and I got picked up by this neo-nazi dude going into Belgrade. Kept talking about how his countrymen were slaughtered by NATO pigs in the Balkan Wars. My friend and I were Danish and American – as in, from two of the nations most involved in said slaughter. Pretended we were Norwegian and Canadian for a very tense hour-long drive.

Hitchhiking from Bulgaria into Romania, same friend and I were stuck at the border, which was a huge bridge across the Danube, and nobody would pick us up for fear that we were smuggling shit. Finally, the border guards allowed us to walk across the bridge, though the closest thing it had to a pedestrian walkway was a narrow ledge for guards and construction workers, that halfway across turned to pieces of rubble and rebar sticking out of the side of the bridge that we had to walk on, with the water 60 feet below us in the middle of night.

On top of that, we were greeted on the other side by Romanian border guards with machine guns who were very agitated, since they had never seen anyone walk across the bridge and assumed we were crossing illegally.

Got picked up by a guy in France who spoke of nothing but how he was the second coming of Christ and all the other prophets were fakes. Bad vibes.

Hitchhiking in the US, got left in Ukiah, California for the night, a horrible creepy little meth-town. Walked to the edge of town to sleep in a park at about 2 in the morning – turns out it was more of a national park, with warning signs outside about mountain lions, rattle snakes, bears, murderous tweakers and a fucking rabid fox.

Went to sleep next to the path leading into the forest, when, in quick succession, an unidentified animal started circling us, some person wearing nothing but shorts, a t-shirt and a tiny backpack paces straight past us into the forest (at 3 in the morning, mind you) and some car kept getting turned on and off somewhere right behind us in the empty parking lot. Got creeped out, got out of there, met a couple nice homeless girls who let us sleep next to their car and told us we were fucking insane to go to sleep where we did, since the place was murder city.”

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People Share Things They like but They Can’t Stand the Fan Base

This is a tricky subject…

Have you ever gotten really into something and discovered that while you like that thing, you really don’t like other people who support it? It might be a band or a TV show or a movie or a sports team.

In this AskReddit article, people went on the record and shared something they like but can’t stand the fan base.

1. Anime

“Anime.

Every time I find one that I like. I mention it to other people and then they feel the need to shit on whatever I’m watching and say I should watch something else because it’s better.”

2. Nirvana

“Nirvana. Not the WHOLE fanbase, but primarily the ones who say you have to hate the popular songs and love the lowkey ones, as well as the ones who talk about it like they’re the last good band to ever exist. The ones who glorify Cobain’s suicide also get on my nerves.”

3. Short and sweet

“Marijuana.”

4. No idea what this is

“K-pop. A few years ago, my friends introduced it to me and I thought the music wasn’t terrible so I slowly became a fan of random music from different groups. Many fans of these K-pop groups are toxic and like to start Fan Wars with other groups. It’s wayyyy too much drama, but I’m not trying to go against all the fans. It’s just that some of these ppl are way too obsessed.”

5. That’s kind of weird

“Doctor Who and Sherlock. I used to really casually enjoy these things, but the amount of weirdness around people who are obsessed with the two of these things, turned me off of it quite a bit.”

6. Wrestlemania

“Weirdly enough for me it’s the WWE. Especially with Raw and Smackdown right now. It seems that majority of the fan base want everyone to be over and no one to be over at the same time.”

7. Not a cult

“I actually really like CW shows. I know they’re stupid and they’re completely unrealistic, over the top, and obnoxious….but they are SO good for just escaping reality. The fans….drive me nuts. It’s a TV show….not a cult. Let’s just enjoy it and move on.”

8. Burton has legions of fans

“THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (and other Tim Burton-esque films).

This fan base was larger back in the early 2000s when the emo platforms of old were prolific with fanfic, posts and badly-drawn art and low-res screenshots pasted with animated glitter love heart stickers.

Nowadays it’s not so prominently featured on social medias, but I know more than a fair few full grown adults that still fawn over Jack Skellington and Sally in the most cringe-worthy ways.”

9. Seriously…

“League of Legend. Seriously, can’t get a game without someone flaming.”

10. You’re a target now

“Tom Holland.

I don’t hate the fan base, but some fans are a bit creepy.

I like tom holland’s acting, he’s a good actor, and I am a fan, but sometimes I get creeped out by his fans. Like I’ll make an occasional joke but talking about him constantly is kind of creepy. Or following him around and taking pictures of him (when you’re not paparazzi) and constantly knowing where he is? Like that’s super stalker-y. I know that he’s a young actor that’s in a lot of popular movies, but don’t stalk him. Its straight up creepy.

Now I’m a target for a bunch of pre-teen/teenage girls. Fun!”

11. It is a big hit…

“Hamilton is so good, but the romantization of actual historical figures, the terrible memes, and the “I know everything about history because I know hamilton lyrics” bothered me so much.”

12. Don’t want to deal with it

“Magic the gathering. The stigmas behind what people imagine a magic player to be bothers me. The general player probably hates something in the game I genuinely enjoy, and the people I’ve played with outside my family have ruined me wanting to support my local game store because I don’t want to deal with the other people that play.”

13. They are pretty hardcore

“The band Tool. Their fans are called toolibans for a reason.”

14. Annoying

“The band Queen. On any YouTube video where anyone discusses a band or song they like that’s not Queen, there will be comments about how Queen is the best band, and how freddie Mercury is a Messiah or a God, and how every other singer should blow him. And when someone discusses a queen song and expresses criticism there are fans who act like it’s a personal attack on them and get way to defensive. They’re just annoying.”

15. Supernatural

“Supernatural. Great show with likeable characters, but it seems like all the people that watch it are wannabe emo or the kids that weren’t cool enough to join the anime groups.”

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People Shared Their Sibling Photos and Showed That Family Can Be a Blessing and a Curse

Siblings: aren’t they just the best? At least some of the time, I mean?

I grew up with four siblings, and, yes, brothers and sisters drive each other insane. But that’s part of the fun!

People shared funny photos with their siblings and they are a hoot!

Enjoy.

1. That is good

So I heard you guys like awkward family photos and pictures of pets… Well, check this out. from pics

2. Amazing

View post on imgur.com

3. Nice onion ring!

Here’s my brother with his hockey trophy and medal, and then there’s me..proudly showing off my onion ring. Circa 1997 from blunderyears

4. No blinking

My mom and her sisters. They were told not to blink (1978) from OldSchoolCool

5. Priceless

My daughter’s reaction when holding her new baby sister. Much heavier than the dolls she practiced on. LOL from aww

6. LOL

This is how my 2.5 year old niece insists on holding her new baby brother from funny

7. Looks like fun!

I never truly understood what it’s like to grow up with siblings until I found this gem of a photo in my wife’s family album… from pics

8. Don’t even think about it

Exactly 27 years ago, my mom took the perfect picture of me and my sister. Some things never change. from pics

9. Making music

My sisters and I went through a ‘Sound of Music’ phase when we were younger. Yes those are our underpants. from blunderyears

10. More teeth, please

The photographer told me to show more teeth. from blunderyears

11. Not happy

I REALLY didn’t want to hold them from pics

12. About to attack

Just found this cute picture of me and my cousin, and my psycho brother in the background. from funny

13. Dad, we’re sorry!

Dad got mad when we weren’t cooperating for our family Xmas photo from pics

14. Classic

Siblings Xmas photo circa 1980. I’m the one grabbing my crotch. This is the picture my parents chose to display. from OldSchoolCool

15. Hell yes

My brothers and I back in the sweet sweet 90s from blunderyears

I can just feel the love!

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American and Mexican Children Play Together on Seesaws Built into the Border Wall

Here’s a feel-good story.

Despite all the current examples of tragedy, hateful rhetoric, and divisiveness in the news, the images of children simply playing together at the US-Mexico border can make us all pause and reflect on what it means to be human.

There’s no doubt that the situation along the US-Mexico border is complicated and has been for many, many years. But two university professors decided to change the tone from “it’s scary and complicated’ to “maybe this can be a little whimsical” by installing seesaws that straddle the border so kids on opposite sides of the fence can play with each other.

How do you like that for breaking down barriers?

The folks behind the project are Ronald Rael, a professor of architecture at the UC Berkeley, and Virginia San Fratello, an associate professor of design at San Jose State University.

View this post on Instagram

One of the most incredible experiences of my and @vasfsf’s career bringing to life the conceptual drawings of the Teetertotter Wall from 2009 in an event filled with joy, excitement, and togetherness at the borderwall. The wall became a literal fulcrum for U.S. – Mexico relations and children and adults were connected in meaningful ways on both sides with the recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side. Amazing thanks to everyone who made this event possible like Omar Rios @colectivo.chopeke for collaborating with us, the guys at Taller Herrería in #CiudadJuarez for their fine craftsmanship, @anateresafernandez for encouragement and support, and everyone who showed up on both sides including the beautiful families from Colonia Anapra, and @kerrydoyle2010, @kateggreen , @ersela_kripa , @stphn_mllr , @wakawaffles, @chris_inabox and many others (you know who you are). #raelsanfratello #borderwallasarchitecture #teetertotterwall #seesaw #subibaja

A post shared by Ronald Rael (@rrael) on

The seesaws were installed at the border in Sunland Park, New Mexico, not far from the very busy border of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Photo Credit: Instagram,rrael

Photo Credit: Instagram,rrael

Rael and San Fratello actually came up with the idea for a “Teetertotter Wall” back in 2009. In his Instagram post, Rael said, “The wall became a literal fulcrum for U.S.-Mexico relations and children and adults were connected in meaningful ways on both sides with the recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side.”

Photo Credit: Instagram,rrael

Rael added that the seesaw project “is incredibly important at a time when relationships between people on both sides are being severed by the wall and the politics of the wall.”

Kids simply having fun knows no boundaries, no borders, no walls, and no fences.

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Serena Williams Destroyed 3 Men at Once on the Tennis Court

What were these guys thinking?

Serena Williams is one of the best athletes in the world. She’s earned a record 23 grand slam singles titles, plus a list of other career achievements that is so long it would take up this entire article.

That’s why it’s hilarious that some totally regular, non-professional-tennis-playing men think they could win a point off Serena if they ever got the chance. One in eight men, to be exact.

YouGov, a global online survey company, found that 12 percent of men believe they could win a point in a game of tennis against Serena. That leaves 74 percent of men who actually understand the laws of physics.

The survey results caught a lot of attention online. Many people begged Serena to actually give some of those 12 percent fools a chance, because the footage would be hilarious.

Thankfully, that footage already exists.

Here, for your entertainment, is Serena Williams playing three average dudes at once and absolutely beasting the hell out of them.

Even better, these men appeared nothing but delighted to have their asses kicked by Serena.

In addition to the game of tennis, they presented her with a series of challenges, like breaking a water balloon with the tennis ball and hitting a ball into a basketball hoop from the top of the tennis stadium.

Needless to say, Serena effortlessly completed every task.

So, yeah. Whenever Serena has another second in her busy schedule as a living legend, we’d love her to film more videos demonstrating why no mere mortal man could possibly compete against her on the court.

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