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People Share The Saddest Historical Facts They Know

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

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

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

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

“What historical fact makes you cry?”

Good Dogs, Sad Dogs

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

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

Soldiers Wanting To Share In The Haunting Tunes

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

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

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

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

A Good Pet Until The Very End

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

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

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

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

One Minute Gone

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

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

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

Oh, America, You Disappoint Us…

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

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

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

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

Survived By Being Out For The Day

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

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

Couldn’t Fit This Into The Play

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

“The Light Has Gone…”

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

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

Sharing Each Other’s Humanity

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

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

Keeping Your Honor Even In War

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Overthinkers Break Down The Craziest Scenarios They’ve Prepared For

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

But the joke is on the haters.

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

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

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

Some overthinkers helped prevent sartorial disasters.

Sew Prepared

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

Don’t Mock Pack Rats

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Life Saver

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tending To An Injured Elderly Woman

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

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

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

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

A Convenient Tool

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

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

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

The Best Kid In Class

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

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

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

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

Mom’s Supply

“Not me, but my mother.”

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

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

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

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

Think about it.

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

Just saying.

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People Share The Best Life Hacks They Know

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

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

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

Mommy blogs love them too.

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

Redditor synthesezia asked:

“Reddit, what are your best lifehacks?”

Closet Hacks.

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

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

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

For those of us with a bad memory.

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

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

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

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

Academia life hacks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avoid debt as much as possible.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get paid to use the toilet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have an extra bag in your car.

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

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

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

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

“Just kidding.” – fdat

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

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

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

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

Meal prep is the way to go.

“Make lunch for work the night before.”

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

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

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

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

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

Eat before shopping.

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

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

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

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

Fear might be a good motivator.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting out of bed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We don’t always do things the easy way.

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

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People Share Facts That Could Actually Save Someone’s Life

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Head Above Water At All Times

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

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

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

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

It’s still coming for you…

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

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

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

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

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

Good catch Sir

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

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

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

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

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

Be the Spotter!

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

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

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

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

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

It’s All Elementary my dears…

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

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

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

Bright Colors and Twilight!

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

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

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

“Dude I have some idiots in my neighborhood.”

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

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

“And they where black clothes.” ~ oreo_milktinez

Mixing and matching can be a mess…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep the Mouth Clear!

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

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

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

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

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

“If possible, call their emergency contact first.”

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

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

Survival is Messy!

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

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

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

No Pulling!

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

Well that is a lot to digest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reddit user MuddiDK asked: 

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

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

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

You Want Books? You Got Books. 

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

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

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

“250+ books by or about US Presidents“

“300 science fictions short stories“

“200 more science fiction short stories“

“50 free books on etiquette“

“115 free fairy tale books“

“100 free mythology books“

“250 free kids and YA books“

“200 free sci-fi books“

“100 free classics“

“100 free Christmas ebooks“

“100 free poetry ebooks“

“100 free history ebooks“

“100 free memoirs and autobiographies“

“50 free mysteries“

“100 free books about pirates“

“70 books about space and astronomy“

“200 books about cooking and housekeeping“

“50 historical books about childbirth and sexual health“

“175 medical books“

“50 free craft books“

“100 free gardening books“

“Free assigned summer reading books“

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

“100 free books of ghost stories“

“100 more free mythology ebooks“

“50 free horror books“

“30 free Arthurian legends“

“180 free Christmas ebooks“

“100 free books of essays“

“50 free ebooks about inventions and inventors“

“100 unusual or very specific history books“

“250 books by or about US presidents“

“Free audiobook collections from Librivox:”

“50 free classic audiobooks“

“50 more free classic audiobooks“ – Chtorr

All This Stuff

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

“Autodesk Fusion 360 -CAuD/CAM software.”

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

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

“Cake Walk – music production software”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Handbrake -the open source video transcoder”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“LibreOffice -Open-source office suite.”

“LMMS -a digital audio workstation application program.”

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

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

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

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

“Opentoonz – animation production software.”

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

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

“Pixlr – Feature-packed online photo editor.”

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

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

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

“Reaper -Digital audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software”

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

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

“SlidesGo -Free Google Slides and PowerPoint templates.”

“Switch -Convert and encode sound files quickly.”

“The Noun Project – Icons for everything.”

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

“Unity -cross-platform game engine.”

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

“Unsplash – Beautiful free images and pictures.”

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

“VS Code -free source-code editor.”

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

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

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

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

“> Some learning material:”

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

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

“Cybrary – The Cybersecurity and IT Career Development Platform”

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

“FreeCodeCamp – Learn to code at home.”

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

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

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

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

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

“MIT courses -MIT’s OpenCourseware.”

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

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

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

This Cure For Calculus

“Wolfram Alpha.”

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

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

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

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

Scholarly Sources

“Google Scholar.”

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

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

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

WikiWiki

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

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

“All that information is free!” 

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

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

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

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

Learn Stuff!

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

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

“Want to learn knitting: You got it!”

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

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

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

You’re Entitled To Your History

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

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

“censusrecords.com”

“findagrave.com.”

“and the national parks civil war veterans registry.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visualize Your Characters

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

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

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

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

So what are you doing in here still reading?

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

Go! Get your free on!

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

We all make mistakes.

Some are bigger than others.

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

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

Redditor HypnoViber pointed out this phenomenon when they asked: 

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

Sometimes, a good hard hit really is the answer. 

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

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

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

Other times, the wrong turn is the right one.

“I work in television.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Of course my boss stopped yelling.”

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

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

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

“All throughout the day, he thanked me.”

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

Mistakes, the spice of life!

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

“It was creamy and delicious!”

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

More fantastic food flubs. 

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

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

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

“OMFG it was good!”

“So that’s how we make it.”

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

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

The error that keeps on giving. 

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

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

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

“However we became best friends.”

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

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

Many responses were surprisingly self-aware. 

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

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

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

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

“It was 100% my fault.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Sh*t was pleasant, ngl”~wriggly_jiggled22

Always read the fine print. 

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

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

“Oops.”

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

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

The wrong note just sounds better.

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

That’s one way to quit?

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

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

We all make mistakes.

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

Sometimes, our mistakes make us.

Posted on

Doctors Share The Funniest ‘My Patient Googled Their Symptoms’ Stories

We’ve all heard the advice to “not Web MD” our symptoms, as in, to not do a deep-dive of our own symptoms on the internet before seeing a doctor.

We could easily become misinformed or even scare ourselves with a disease we don’t have.

Fortunately for doctors, some of the situations they find themselves in are pretty funny.

Redditor squishy0930 asked: 

“Doctors of Reddit, what was the dumbest ‘I read on the internet…’ moment you had with a patient?”

Some doctors took issue with homeopathy.

“I once had a lady come in who clearly didn’t believe in modern medicine, but had to see us for an official diagnosis for her disability application.”

“I remember she probably had fibromyalgia, admittedly a very difficult condition to manage. She presented me with a report written by a complete quack (and I use this term very rarely but it applies here).”

“This ‘practitioner’ had taken a strand of hair and run a ‘DNA’ test on it for some significant amount of money. The whole report went through all her symptoms and decided that because the patient had lived in a moldy house 10 years ago, all her symptoms were caused by residual mold in her body.”

“Specifically named her kidneys, heart, nervous system, and brain as having mold in. Then recommended a homeopathic remedy to fix it. The patient had swallowed this story hook, line, and sinker, and nothing I could say would dissuade her.”

“It’s the only time I have tried to track down a therapist of any kind to try to report them. Funnily enough, they chose not to respond to my e-mails or telephone messages.” – clickygirl

“Not a doctor. As a transplant recipient, I have to take immunosuppressant medication for the rest of my life. There are studies that some people do come off them completely, but it’s such a huge risk to take that it may trigger organ rejection.”

“A family member of mine still can’t grasp how a life-saving surgery provided by western medicine which initially saved my life, is still keeping me back from living my life. He suggested that I get off my immune suppressants because I am a cash cow for big pharma.” – mango_invasion

“You’d be amazed at how many people tell me (type 1 diabetic) that I could get out from big pharma and my dependency on insulin if I just eat right…”

“I’m skinny and otherwise healthy. Type 1 is autoimmune disorder that must always take insulin due to the pancreas no longer creating any on its own…”

“These conversations are often met with a blank stare by me.” – BearXW

A few had experiences with Gout symptoms.

“Conversation I had with a doctor a few days ago:”

“Me: ‘So I was told that if I can identify what food I am eating that is giving me gout I can avoid it and won’t have as many flare-ups, is that right?’”

“Doctor: Literally laughs out loud ‘Aaaaaaaaaaa no. Evidence for dietary-based management of gout is very sketchy at best. Take the pills. Where did you even hear that?’”

“Me: ‘Your nurse said it to me…?’” – reverendmalerick

“I suffer from gout. I was diagnosed with it last summer and had to go through various combinations of pills to work out strength and dose I needed to manage it.”

“Anyway, my Mum tried telling me it was because I drank too much beer. I ate too much red meat. All stuff she’d googled.”

“Doctor told me that they don’t fully know the cause and that he knows professional athletes that have struggled with it. I’m not saying I’m a professional athlete. But it made me better knowing it can be literally anybody.”

“On the downside. The bouts I have had have been some of the worst most consistent pain I have ever endured. I literally wanted to chop my foot off to stop it. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Gout is horrific.” – highlander2189

There were stories about using medical products… wrong.

“Had a pt prescribed NuvaRing for birth control to be inserted vaginally. Ring lays around the cervix. She came in complaining it was too tight and needed a bigger one. Shows wrist, pulling on a tight ring to show how was cutting off blood supply to hand. “ – wereallmadh3r3

“Not a doc (nurse) but my doctor friend who works in the ER had a patient with a few garlic cloves stuck deep in her vagina because she had read on the internet it helps with certain infections and yeast.”

“(I realize garlic does have antibacterial properties but needs to be used appropriately and with caution.)” – Professional-Quote59

“As a general surgery resident on the colorectal surgery service, we do a lot of hemorrhoids, anal fissures, etc.”

“One of my colleagues prescribed a cream for a middle-aged woman and she later called back and asked if the cream would still work while she was on vacation in Hawaii.”

“Uh, yes it will, why? She replied, ‘Because I was told to apply it locally.’” – TypeADissection

Some instances were actually horrific. 

“I’m an RN. A patient with diabetic foot ulcers read on the internet that salt would dry them up.”

“He put his foot in two plastic shopping bags w/rock salt & turned his foot into prosciutto basically.”

“Had to ‘carve/amputate’ most of his foot. He has forever been nicknamed ‘hammy’ by me.” – scottylynn77

“Had a patient come in with horrid cellulitis because they thought they read that putting dirt in a cut would help stimulate their immune system. It did for all the wrong reasons.” – captainspalding232

There were also some interesting stories about alcohol.

“I’m not a doctor, but I did take my very elderly Nana to the hospital after I showed up to her house and found her slurring her words and behaving very strange overall.”

“Now, my Nana is a major hypochondriac, and when she was admitted the first thing she told the doctor is that she believed she was experiencing the beginning signs of Parkinson’s.”

“It turned out that she had mixed up a bottle of non-alcoholic wine with a bottle of regular wine, had drunk the entire bottle, and was completely hammered.” – Pygmalion335

“My grandmother was not an alcoholic, per se, but she was accustomed to having a glass of wine in the evening. As the years passed on, one glass turned to two, two glasses turned to three, probably to help her sleep.”

“Given that she was living alone, we didn’t actually know how many glasses she usually drank, except that it had been increasing over time.”

“She ended up at a nursing facility at one point, and it was pretty clear she was deteriorating and would pass away in the coming months. The nursing facility wouldn’t allow alcohol.”

“With the anger and stubbornness that sometimes shows itself with advanced age, my grandmother was livid and just refused to accept this.”

“My mom talked to the nursing home staff. My mom basically said that she’s really sorry but grandma is adamant, she’s at the end of her life so a 12-step program isn’t really in the plan, and given that no one really knows what her previous alcohol intake was, they also weren’t sure what would happen in terms of detoxing.”

“The nurses said it was against their policy and they didn’t really have a choice, unless it was prescribed from a doctor.”

“So, my mom talked to her doctor, and the doctor ended up writing a prescription for 1-2 glasses of sherry every evening, which she had for the rest of her days.” – longjumpcamel

Though it’s important for us to be informed about how we can better take care of ourselves and stay healthy, there are certain instances when it’s better to talk to a doctor instead of the internet.

Clearly from these stories, there are instances where research will cause more harm than good.

Posted on

People Describe The Stupidest Financial Decision They’ve Ever Made

Learning how to use and save money isn’t a natural born instinct.  It’s a skill that comes with a lot of time and a lot of budgeting.

It also comes with a lot of mistakes, as the only way to make sure someone learns is to make sure they mess up all the time.

Unfortunately messing up with money can have serious long term consequences.  Having something on your credit report that brings down the score will stay there for years—seven whole years in the United States.

And since we don’t learn how to budget when we are young, how are we supposed to not make crazy mistakes that follow us around our whole lives?

Redditor viKiKing0 asked:

“What was the stupidest financial decision you ever made?”

Here were some of those answers.

Milestones Don’t Matter

“My now wife and I were renting a terrace house for $50 a week. The landlord who was a very strange cat offered to sell us the house if we paid the weekly rent for 10 years.”

“Rent per year was about $2600 so for $26000 we would have owned a house. We were 20 years old and ten years was forever so we said no . That was my BIG mistake.”

“To people who have asked : The house was in Tasmania. About 40 years ago. At that stage I was earning about $250 per week.”

“It was double story ,2 bedroom terrace house. We bought a house about 6 years later for about $75000. We knew the landlord, he was divesting a lot of properties he owned.”-1999falcon

“Was a 10-99 day trader out of college. Didn’t pay taxes for a year or two. Making peanuts, IRS won’t notice, right?”

“The penalties were more than the original amount owed. Had to put $6,500 on a credit card (bad choice #2). Sent me on a 20 year whirlwind of credit card crappiness. Should have paid my taxes.”

“Should have set up a payment plan with the IRS.”-LurkersGoneLurk

“I got my B.S. in criminal justice. Applied for quite a few jobs, tested in and interviewed for several, but never got them.”

“My dream job was to be a coroner investigator, but I totally flubbed the interview.”

“I ended up going back to school for 3 semesters and got a second A.A./certificate in Paralegal Studies, got a job within a month of graduating.”

“I somewhat regret my CJ degree, but having a Bachelors really helps with other job prospects, so it all worked out in the end.”

“Find something related to the field that you might enjoy if finding work in the field doesn’t work out.”-callhersavage

When Stress Lies To You

“Last year at the start of the pandemic I got a great job as a video game developer working on one of the most successful VR titles.”

“After a few weeks the imposter syndrome was getting worse and worse and eventually I just…quit, I couldn’t take the stress it was causing me and I explained I’d need some time.”

“I never went back to it, never communicated, just returned to a state of depression.”

“Now I’m sat at work on a hot Sunday afternoon back in my call centre job, worrying about how I’ll get to the end of the month with the money left in the bank.”-MrSpindles

“Columbia warehouse records and tapes. I was 15….didn’t read the fine print stating i agreed to purchase at least one tape or record EVERY month for a year.”

“I got my 13 cassettes for a penny…and bought maybe one or two more cassettes as the year went on then forgot about it.”

“Cut to a year later i owed the difference of $86 for the cassettes i didnt buy. They hounded me for 10 yrs…one day when i came back from working offshore i had a few grand and was like ‘fuck it..u win’…i sent them a check for $86.”

“I like to think my account went through multiple hands through the years within the biz and once i eventually paid, the person got a promotion and a celebration was had for FINALLY getting this dude to pay up.”-ImInArea52

“My ex and I moved in together. Paid half each for deposits and all the bills etc. I took out a 4k loan in my name and bought furniture with it, I also bought us a 1.5k bed on finance.”

“My mistake was not getting it in writing that as I was paying the loans anything purchased with that would be mine.”

“I walked away with an £800 telly and nothing else and was still paying the loan off for 1.5 years after I moved out. In the future I will be keeping receipts and written agreements!”-spitroastyomum

Getting Screwed By An Ex, An Ex-Family Or An Ex-Hobby

“When I split with my ex husband, we came to our own agreement – I gave him the house (my share was about $100k) and he wouldn’t ask for child support (even though we had 50/50 care, I’d still have to pay him as I earned more).”

“I thought it would be less disruption for our kids if they could stay in their home half the time, and I’d be able to save for my own home deposit over the coming years.”

“We agreed the house would eventually go to the kids anyway. Despite the split, I had complete trust in him sticking to the deal.”

“4 months after the house was in his name, he moved in with his new girlfriend, sold the house and took me to court for child support saying there was no agreement.”

“The court believed him and I had to pay him another $80k over the next 5 years. It’s the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life, and I’m still suffering for it.”-idontwannabeflawless

“I wound up with a good $5k in credit card debt because “family”. Cut off most of my family 4 years ago, and it took another 3 years to pay off the debt.”

“My credit is still only decent because of how often I’d skip paying the bills because my family needed money again. I kept being told it would all get paid back, and they would pay off the credit cards.”

“Shockingly – they never did. Told me since I was cutting them off, I didn’t deserve it.”

“It’s RIDICULOUSLY hard to recover your credit once the debt is paid off because now you have nothing to pay to prove you can pay it, but no one will lend to you, because your history shows you can’t pay it. Capitalism ftw.”

“Sometimes I wonder how my family would react now if they knew how much more money I make now than I did back then, and they can’t get their grubby little hands on any of it.”-Emmyisme

“Last year around this time a buddy and inwere discussing AMC stock..it was like $1.98 or so…i told him ‘dude..im looking at the amc stock..when covid is over by next summer its going to pop..might go to $10 a share..we can make a quick buck.’”

“I was going to put $20,000 in it on margin….we discussed this for the next two months a few times a week…its gonna pop..its gonna pop….THEN the news started hitting around november of movie chains going bankrupt..out of biz for ever.”

“Streaming new movies is the new way of life…movie companies releasing movies same day as theater and in some cases ONLY on streaming…etc..etc…it was relentless news on how theaters are done for good…….so i didnt buy it.”

“Yes..im a dumb a**….but i believed streaming new movies was taking off big time and amc was on the verge of collapse based on all the news and chaos.”-ImInArea52

“I met a woman online, went to see her for a week, then decided to move across the country to be with her.”

“To afford this move, I sold all of my Magic: The Gathering cards which were older than Mercadian Masques for $3000.”

“These included a full set of dual lands (about an even split of Revised and Unlimited), some Arabian Nights stuff, and Mana Drains and about ten Force of Will.”

“She met someone else while I was figuring out to how move, and informed me when she met me at the airport.”

“About 10 months later, I used my last dime on gas as I packed my stuff into my car and drove across the country to move back in with my father at age 24.”-bp_516

Everybody makes major money mistakes.  Financial independence and stability is not something anybody comes by naturally, if they’re not from a wealthy family.

Perhaps it’s time to be a little bit more forgiving of our own transgressions.

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Lawyers Break Down The Pettiest Reasons They’ve Ever Seen A Couple Divorce

It’s by now common knowledge a profoundly high amount of marriages end in divorce in the United States.

Bearing that upsetting news in mind, we’d like to think each of those relationships meet their end for a worthy reason, full of movie-like passion and the strong convictions of both partners.

But a recent Reddit thread squashed those lofty hopes.

To bring us all back down to earth, Redditor KarysMR asked:

“Lawyers of Reddit, what is the pettiest reason you’ve ever seen for divorce?”

Many lawyers interpreted “petty” to mean “mind-bogglingly trivial.”

“Definitely the fridge Story!! A woman filed for divorce because her husband would eat everything he can find in their fridge whenever the wife was out for work.”

“So she came back to a basically empty fridge each night.”

“He also cheated on her but she was less angry about that. The fridge was what pushed her to the point she wanted a divorce.” — wrenisanecklace

“the husband kept putting wet/used towel on their bed.” — automind

“Wife wanted divorce like 2 months into marriage because the husband would squeeze the toothpaste from the top and not bottom.”

“She claims to have told him a millions times over to stop. Would have been easier to get 2 toothpastes i thought.” — Infamous-Offer6342

“Not a lawyer- but apparently my brother divorced his wife when McDonald’s forgot to put bbq sauce in with her chicken nuggets at the drive through and she asked him to go back and get some.”

“He didn’t and then I guess she started smashing up food and throwing it at him/out the window….. so yeah…. McDonalds how could you ruin a marriage 😅…….” — WITCH_glitch_I-hex-u

“Not a lawyer: My Mom’s coworker divorced over dishes in the dishwasher.”

“The wife would get so frustrated over the husband (coworker) not rinsing dishes before he loads them in the dishwasher.”

“To compromise, they bought a super nice, top of the line dishwasher. Solves the problem, right?”

“She yelled about the dishes that night. He filed for divorce the next day.” — weberster

“Not a lawyer but this happened to my wife’s cousin.”

“Her husband came home one day asking her to give a higher financial contribution on the groceries, because she, as a lady, was using more toilet paper than him.”

“She took it as a joke and had a good laugh. He got mad, and asked for divorce.”

“Worth mentioning that his salary was 3 times higher than hers.” — Yashky

Many people witnessed bizarre breaking points.

“Nobody ever believes me about this one, but it’s true.”

“A man wanted a divorce from his wife because – and he gave this example as the ‘last straw’ – his wife ate those nasty pumpkin Halloween candies, like candy corn but pumpkin shaped.”

“He had been looking forward to them all day and when he got home, she had eaten them all. He snapped.”

“Swear on my life this story is true.” — Brkiri

“My father-in-law and mother-in-law’s breaking point was when he threw a breadcrumb at her from across the kitchen.”

“The divorce took 4 years to settle.” — ITS_JUST_LOW_T

One Redditor offered up another version of that story.

“My ex thinks I divorced him because my friends told me to.”

“What actually happened was I was bitching about him to a friend and she said ‘you know, he really is a passive aggressive piece of garbage. He does this all the time’.”

“And then I started thinking about how he really did pull that crap all the time and how I wasn’t actually depressed, I just hated living with him.”

“She opened my eyes, but I divorced him because he treated me like crap, not because my friend told me to.” — scaly_friends_4me

Other times, the divorce was prompted by a surprise discovery.

“I remember one episode of a TV show here in my country, similar to Jerry Springer, the woman didn’t know her husband used dentures until marrying and living together.”

“She said she couldn’t handle anymore, she was disgusted.”

“They both cried, she said a lot of ‘I’m sorry’ but she couldn’t go on. They were married for a few months.”

“Don’t know if it was true though.” — nerdy_latino

“The weirdest I’ve ever seen is a coworker of mine.”

“His wife saw a picture of him at a pool when he was in high school and really athletic. Toned, muscular, tan and so on.”

“Over the 10 years after high school he stopped lifting and lost his muscle tone and just became skinny.”

She told him she wanted him to get back to working out because she really liked the way he once looked and he said it was something he missed doing and agreed to get a gym membership.”

“He was going to the gym four days a week but was only really working out for two of them. On the days he didn’t work out he would sit in the sauna to get sweaty, watch Netflix and then go home.”

“When she asked about him going to the gym and accidentally let it slip that he was fudging workouts twice a week. She apparently found that to be a deal breaker and filed for divorce.” — SafewordisJohnCandy

“A woman came in wanting to divorce her husband. He had just gotten a new job and a pretty big raise.”

“It turned out that this new job of his also required that he work from home but he was working in an office before.”

“She was having an affair with their next-door neighbor and him being home more meant that she couldn’t cheat on her husband easily.”

“That was definitely a twist. I was expecting something like him being the one having the affair but nope!” — red_duke117

“A teacher I had in HS got divorced because his wife didnt like how much sex he had before they had been married.”

“To put in context how petty of a reason that was, they had been married for 12 yrs and had three kids together.”

“She had also met him a few years into his teaching career which didn’t start till he was 32.”

“But to say both sides of the argument, he did have a staggering large amount of sex, he was an Olympian and had been going to the Olympics to compete since he was 18.”

“He was the best teacher to ever have as a homeroom teacher as the stories he could tell were just surreal.” — TarvidD12

So there you have it.

Even if you find yourself in the throes of a dying marriage destined for failure for the least legitimate reason possible, you will not be alone.

I guess there’s some comfort in that, right?

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People Break Out The Best Hygiene Hacks They Know

We all like to think we’re clean people, and we probably are.

But there are probably still some ways we can improve, or ways to get things just as clean without all the time and effort.

Redditor ProudSilver1576 asked:

“What is a hygiene tip/trick that everyone should know?”

You Might Be Surprised What Is Dirty

“Occasionally wipe down your doorknobs and light switches. When I was a maid I’d clean people’s light switches and they’d be covered is brown gunk because they’d never been cleaned before. We touch them multiple times every day. They get nasty.” –yarnfrog

“At the start of the plague I deep cleaned the office. The worst part was the door. Not the handle but the door itself, because everyone touches the same spot to hold it open when they pull their key out. Also the armrests on chairs. I swear I went home and took two showers from how nasty it all was.” –shiguywhy

“Whenever I lysol wipe my phone, the wipe still has lots of life left so I’ll go wipe any switches, door handles, sink handles, fridge handles, microwave buttons, all that good stuff in the vicinity. Doesn’t take too long.” –drsandwich_MD

They’re Really Not A Luxury

“Don’t ignore a toothache. Abscesses can lead to sepsis that’ll destroy your whole body. Take care of those luxury bones!” –februarytide

“During the lull between the first and second covid waves, we had two admissions to our intensive care unit with pericardial infections secondary to dental abscesses. One died. Don’t ignore dental infections.” –Mouse_Nightshirt

“Brush your tongue and the top of your mouth along with your teeth.” –pdxblaxer

Bad Acne?

Could Be Your Pillowcase

“Clean your pillowcase regularly, it helps keep your face from breaking out.” –Amish_Juggalo469

“I change my pillowcase every 4 nights (1 night per side) originally because of breakouts. Helped a lot. Just went to a second hand store, got a ton of cheap pillowcases, washed them with hot water and bleach and voila.” –Balderdash966

“And your comforter/blanket if you’re like me and bring it all the way up to your face.” –Reamund

Your Hairbrush Could Use Some Love Too

“Washing my hairbrush. I used to just get rid of the excess hair but that was it: I never rinsed it out. I wash it in a mild soap solution and rinse in very hot water and it makes my hair smell so much better.” –Redditor

“I did this the other day, I was pretty grossed out by how dirty the water was afterwards.” –spitfire07

“Omg. Bc of product buildup, natural oils, dry scalp, wtf I’m doing this tomorrow thank you! Seems like common sense that a brush would need cleaning too 😂” –rayne-drops

The Sun Is Not Your Friend

“Maybe not hygiene, but use a face lotion with a SPF of 15 or higher. You’ll thank yourself later on in life.” –__Sentient_Fedora__

“I’ve been doing this daily since I was 18. I’m now 52, no wrinkles at all. I still get asked for ID. Do it.” –Acornpoo

“Mid-40s here: Same. My sisters and I have been putting on SPF daily since childhood. My mom was super stringent about it. Face and neck.”

“My mom is 70-ish and she looks like she could be early 50s. My sisters and I have smooth skin, no sun spots and no wrinkles. It could be genetics, but it could also be rigorous use of sunscreen.” –ResidingAt42

The Order Is Important

“Poop first, shower second.” –belachewm

“I poop 5 times a day and shower once or twice so this isn’t really sustainable for me.” __Guy_Incognito

“One word. Bidet.” –Canisnate

This One’s For Everyone

“Pee after sex! Male or female, everybody needs to pee after sex.”

“Also, if you’re reading this, you probably need to drink at least one glass of water.” –hananobira

“I don’t need to drink any more water. I work in construction and it is summer here. I drink plenty because I sweat it out like a faucet. What I need are electrodes especially sodium.”

“That ‘drinking lots of water is good’ mentality can be really dangerous. We periodically get reminded that drinking water is not a substitute for a rest to cool down because of how many people drink themselves to the point of water poisoning.”

“The peeing to prevent UTI is spot on though.” –idunnoijustlurk

Quick Fixes For BO

“You’re in public and your armpits smell disgusting. Use hand sanitizer because the smell is caused by bacteria, and the hand sanitizer killed it. Just don’t do this regularly because your skin is sensitive under your armpits.” –Toxicity5675

“Also don’t do this on freshly shaved armpits.” –standinginmyownway

“Pro tip for hairy guys: Shave your pits. Saves your shirts from stains and GREATLY reduces the smell. Also, your deodorant will actually work.” –Intyleryoutrust

“Years ago I had BO that would go through the best deodorant. My dermatologist told me to buy this product called Hibiclens – it has 4% chlorhexidine gluconate- and use on my pits when i shower.”

“Game changer. I still use it to this day, maybe 1 or 2 times a week instead of every time I shower.” –PAXICHEN

Nobody Likes A Wet Floor

“When you take a shower or get out of a pool, slide your hands down your legs, arms, stomach, butt etc a few times like windshield wipers when you turn the water of and there’ll be less on the floor when you get out and your towel wont be as soaking wet either.” –pURPleDorito4108

“Hand squeegies!” –II_Confused

“Note for my fellow hairy dudes: It still works somewhat but mileage may vary.” –Ennbeard

“points finger to temple”

“Dry off while standing in the tub/shower. No water on the floor.” –InanimateSensation

Your Feet Might Need Some Attention

“Wash you feet! Most people I know seem to believe their feet magically become clean from having soapy water run down them while they are showering.”

“That is NOT the case! You really need to wash your feet.”

“Also a good idea to take a pumice or foot file to calluses and use a hard nail brush for toenails.”

“Keeping your feet clean will prevent a lot of problems, particularly with fungus. Funguses live and thrive on dead skin cells so if you have toenail fungus you will have a really hard time getting rid of it till you get rid of dead skin around the nails!” –internet_commie

“To piggyback off foot health – if you work at a job where you work for long hours and maybe your feet kinda smell at the end of the day.”

“Try having two pairs of shoes and wear them alternate days.”

“Changing socks mid shift can help a lot.” –OrcOfDoom

Hopefully some of these hygiene hacks will help make your life a little easier, and maybe a little cleaner.