Category: reddit

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People Break Down The Most Random Science Facts

I love science.

Although I hated it in high school, now that I’m old… I mean an adult, I love it.

Why you ask?

Because the more science you learn, the more you can understand what’s happening around you and live better.

But science has sadly been under attack for the last several years.

So let’s be our own Bill Nye and absorb a bit of science for our own good.

Redditor Look_Under_The_Bed went to Reddit for all the best science on offer and asked:

“What’s a random science fact that you know?”

So let’s talk science…

You never know when you’ll need to spit out some random facts to impress people at parties.

And if nothing else, we’ll be better prepared for Jeopardy!.

Cry me a River…

“When you cry really hard, your nose runs because it’s connected to the same pipes as your tear ducts, so your nose is also helping you get your tears out.” ~ Threspian

“On a similar note, your nose runs when it’s cold out because you have created a heat gradient.”

“Warm air can hold more water than cool air so as you exhale, the water condenses at the end of your nose and so your nose runs.”  ~ wolfmoral

LOOK OUT BELOW!!!

“Squirrels can survive falling from terminal velocity.”  ~ terrariapro117

“I learned this after witnessing a squirrel hit the ground after a presumably long fall.”

“It made a loud SMACK as it hit the ground, scared the crap out of me and the dog, then scampered away, up another tree like nothing happened.”  ~ _cocophoto_

Time after Time…

“Time is slightly slower between higher altitudes and lower altitudes, to infinitesimal fractions of a second.”  ~ Redditor

“The designers of the GPS satellites had to compensate for this, since the entire system is built around ridiculously precise timekeeping.”

“It was calculated theoretically first as a consequence of general relativity, and then confirmed experimentally.” ~ Murgatroyd314

 Strength in opposing directions…

“Muscles can only contract. Muscle tissue can’t push.”

“Doesn’t sound like a big deal until you realize that actions like sticking your tongue out of your mouth are completely the result of pulling, not pushing.” ~ fd1Jeff

“I teach anatomy. Always fun to watch students work through this information for the first time.”

“That is a series of pulling and relaxing and the opposite movements are also pulling and relaxing.”

“i.e…triceps vs biceps.”  ~ Warlock2017

2 every solar system turn…

“Venus the only planet to spin clockwise.” ~ siglawoo

“Sun’s axis rotates a full turn about every 27 Earth days but since the Sun is not solid but a ball of plasma the rotation speeds are different at different latitudes.”

“At the equator it’s surface rotates faster, every 24 days.”

“Another fun fact: the orbital plane of the planets is tilted about 7 degrees in relation to the Sun’s axis mentioned above.”

“This should not be the case because of the way planets form around a star.”

“Astronomer’s suspect that the orbital plane of the planets tilted as a result of the gravity of a large planet size object that is no longer around.”

“Existence of this planet is hypothetical so it was given a name Planet X (or sometimes Planet 9). Other anomalies had been observed that could also suggest existence of such an object.”

“Example: grouping of planetoids on the outskirts of the Solar System.”

“The reason that the planet hasn’t been observed directly is that it’s so far away beyond Neptune that it doesn’t reflect enough sunlight to be seen with available technology.”

“Another proposed explanation for the orbital plane tilt is existence of a nearby planet-sized black hole which orbits the Sun but hasn’t been detected yet.”

“The new James Webb space telescope that will be launched soon should help to answer those questions.”  ~ aykontakt

“Makes you wonder. What if something hit Venus?”

“In Dynamics if two objects hit each other and their center of gravities aren’t along the path each was traveling, one will spin clockwise and the other counterclockwise.”

“Maybe Earth and Venus are the same size because we’re the result of two roughly similar sized objects hitting each other in space. Idk.”  ~ detectiveDollar

Within Reach…

“You’re closer to space than you are to anything more than about an hour’s drive away.”

“Most folks take “space” to be “outside of Earth’s atmosphere.”

“There’s no precise boundary to where Earth’s atmosphere ends and space starts, but a lot of people take the Kármán line to be as good a point as any to split atmosphere vs. space.”

This line is 100km/62 miles up, which is roughly the distance your grandma can drive in an hour on the highway.”  ~ meatfrappe

I see the resemblance…

“Tyrannosaurus was closer in time to Humans than to Stegosaurus.”  ~ jsreyn

“That explains why my arms are so short.”  ~ TransientFeelings

“Haha same! When I sit on a chair, I never know what to do with my arms.”

“If I put them on my legs near my hips, I end up slouching because I can’t sit straight and put my hands on my thighs.”

“So I cross my arms and then people say I look defensive.”  ~ Zealousideal9151

Human Waste in Orbit…

“If you bleed more than 100ml/min on the international space station, they write you off and say any medical supplies spent on you is a waste.”  

“It’s been years since I saw the article but I believe the only plan at that point was ‘get the astronaut to earth ASAP’ which, you know… isn’t done in a few minutes, soooo.”  ~ Wit-wat-4

Square cut or pear shaped…

“Diamonds aren’t forever. In fact, they are dust at 500 degrees in your oven for a few hours.”

“Diamonds aren’t pressure/temperature stable at the surface. If you heat them without also applying incredible pressure, they become CO2 and a little pile of carbon.”  ~ Driftmoth

Veggies keep you level…

“If you ever get a cut and it won’t seem to stop bleeding chances are you’re low on vitamin K as it’s the one that helps your blood clot. Vitamin K can be found in most vegetables.”  ~ orion284

“Especially leafy greens! Which is why people on warfarin (and certain other anticoagulants IIRC) need to be mindful of their greens intake… ideally.”

“They should eat them only in moderation and aim for the same amount every day to keep their warfarin levels stable.”  ~ sheepthechicken

Always Sunny, Everyday

“The sun rises on the ISS every ~90 minutes which is the time it takes to orbit the earth and so astronauts experience about 16 mornings everyday.”  ~ pseud0human

I feel like my IQ points just jumped exponentially.

There is definitely enough information there to make me look a tad more sophisticated at parties.

There is no such thing as useless knowledge! The more you know, the more you grow.

Maybe I should write for Hallmark…

Anyway, knowledge of science can be fun and keep us from making foolish mistakes or bad decisions.

Remember that kids.

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People Share Their Favorite ‘How The Hell Did They Discover That?’ Facts

Humanity, for all its faults, is pretty amazing. We’ve learned a lot of really cool things in our time on this planet.

But how did we learn some of it?

Like… who thought it’d be a good idea to prepare a venomous or otherwise dangerous creature for consumption? Didn’t the thought of some rather deadly trial and error frighten them away?

The answer to that is “nope,” in case you’re wondering, and we are referring to fugu, a dish prepared from a pufferfish that can be lethal for human consumption and can also sting when its spines enter the skin.

Fugu’s tetrodotoxin can be so lethal, in fact, it must be carefully prepared to remove the toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat.

The Japanese and other countries have strictly regulated fugu’s preparation, just in case you’re feeling adventurous.

But how did that first person grab the stinging, spiky fish blown up like a balloon and discover how to eat it without dropping dead?

Well, we don’t have an answer for that.

And what about other curious things human beings discovered?

Redditor Justoneaccount1234 asked the online community:

“What fact makes you think ‘What the f**k were they doing to discover that?’”

“She wasn’t too disgusted.”

“My mum was diagnosed with glaucoma a while back. She had to use eye drops which she said were derived from bull semen. She wasn’t too disgusted.”

“She was a nurse, she was just endlessly baffled with HOW anyone ever came up with that idea.”

“Like, you’d have to know a fair bit about semen to even think of its uses beyond the obvious one.”

“How do these people describe themselves on LinkedIn?” ~ SuzyJTH

“You know…”

“Hákarl.”

“You know, that shark that is usually poisonous unless you leave it to rot for months.” ~ ObscuraNox

“Chewing the nuts…”

“Coffee can be explained. Chewing the nuts gets you hyper, so someone distilled it.”

“Now black ivory coffee… that had to have been a prank, dare, or the most confusing chain of events for a bean farmer.”

“For those that don’t know, black ivory coffee is coffee made from beans passed through the digestive tract of elephants.”

“The enzymes in the elephant break down the protein in the bean, giving it a less bitter taste.” ~ chocki305

“I have an acquaintance…”

“I have an acquaintance who worked as a dog handler, showing purebred dogs in dog shows.”

“She swears that putting the tip of a wooden match into a dog’s anus is the preferred method for making the dog defecate before going into the show ring.”

“All I can think of is: Who was the drunk idiot that discovered that? How much alcohol was involved?”

“Why did they tell anybody what they’d done? (“Hey, you guys wanna see a trick? Here, Fido!”)” ~ NightmareGerbil

“Just to clarify…”

“I never understood why people started eating onions. I mean, I’m glad they did, but if I’m a caveman and try to eat a ‘food-like substance’ that if I break open makes me cry, I’m probably not ingesting it.”

“I mean, it doesn’t even want me to look at it and punished me for breaking it open. I don’t eat aggressive vegetables.”

“Just to clarify, I really love onions. I just wouldn’t have been the first one to try them.” ~ CanEyeBshy

“In the past two weeks…”

“Anything involving baking soda. In the past two weeks, I’ve used it to make banana bread and pretzels, as well as to disinfect a litter box and clean silver.” ~ _solarmax

“I mean, they figured out…”

“Toast. It had to be an accident, surely.”

“I mean, they figured out to grind the right grains, the right ratio of yeast and water and sugar, etc., and how to cook it to make beautiful beautiful bread.”

“I swear, it must have been an accident that someone was too close to a fire and because of, I dunno, poverty or ignorance, it got eaten and the nirvana that is toast was achieved.

“Who would ever think, ‘This bread is great, I’ll cook it again’?” ~ kiki73

“One presumes…”

“The ancient/medieval alchemists left a lot of records of the substances they studied.”

“They cataloged all the properties they observed for each one – including the taste. One presumes that for the data to be passed on, one had to record the taste test promptly.” ~ schleppenwolf

“The process to make it properly…”

“Chocolate. The process to make it properly is incredibly finicky and takes a long time from start to finish.”

“What’s more, it’s not like a lot of things mentioned here that were probably just the result of being desperately hungry.” ~ mechanate

“Maybe I don’t understand…”

“The complex chemical processes to make certain drugs.”

“Maybe I don’t understand chemistry well enough, but how would they have known the effect that certain drugs, like cocaine, would have on a person?”

“Or was it made for some other purpose and someone said, ‘Hey, this looks like a good thing to crush up so that I can snort it up through my nose.’”

“It just seems weird.” ~ goodietwoshoe

“For those who aren’t familiar…”

“Casu marzu.”

“For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a cheese made from sheep’s milk with live maggots in it.”

“It’s actually illegal under EU regulations but there is still black market production because apparently, people want to eat live maggots.” ~ adeon

“They were lucky…”

“When saccharine was first synthesized, the creators didn’t know it was going to be safe to consume.”

“And yet, against the most basic law of the chemistry lab (do not under any circumstances eat that thing you just created, everything can and WILL kill you), they decided that meh, a little bit couldn’t hurt.”

“They were lucky and it was sweet and safe, but seriously don’t eat the stuff you just made from tar – it literally didn’t exist an hour before.” ~ coelicolored

The funny thing about a lot of these responses, at least to me, is the number of people who rest on the assumption that starvation wasn’t a common way to die for many millennia.

You’d be surprised what human beings will eat—and certainly figure out is okay to eat—when they are hungry and there is no other option.

I suppose we should thank them for their discoveries.

Oh, and while we’re at it, be even more thankful we didn’t have to be the ones to do all of these experiments.

Posted on

People Break Out Their Most Obscure Animal Facts

Everybody loves a good fun fact.

They’re worth their weight in gold when you find yourself at an intimidating team-builder or other ice breaker situation.

On top of that, if you can master the art of injecting them into conversation without sounding like a middle school science teacher, you can rely on them to turn a boring chat around at a party.

And of all the fun facts, the animal ones seem to pique our interest more than most others.

Those creatures all around continue to fascinate us with their mysterious behaviors—often genius—behaviors.

Apparently Redditor KnightsWhoSayKni was fresh out of those facts, so they asked a simple, yet compelling question:

“What’s your #1 obscure animal fact?”

People came locked and loaded with all sorts of weird truths.

One common area of intrigue was, of course, anatomy.

“The American bison is the only animal in which both lungs share a common cavity. In every other animal the lungs are separated. What this meant is that when shot by an arrow, both lungs would collapse and the buffalo would suffocate quickly.”

“(For other animals, being shot in the chest would only collapse one lung, and they would at least have a chance) That’s why such a large animal could be taken down with relatively small weapons.” — angmarsilar

“Sloth hands work opposite to ours. They have to exert energy to open their ‘fist’ and relax to close it. This is how they can hang from trees while they’re sleeping and not fall off.” — liripipe

“Ancient penguins could have been up to 7 feet tall.” — StarsandstampS

“Some squid have toroid shaped (donut) brains, and their esophagus (throat) passing through it. If they eat something too big they can get brain damage.” — horch13

“Bird poop is white because they don’t secrete ammonia in urea like we do when we pee so it comes out in one movement and as nearly pure ammonia. Why that stuff eats your car paint!” — dave-pumpkins

Plenty of people were fascinated by the mental tendencies of certain animals. 

“Fish have been seen using tools – deliberately hitting a clam with a rock to get it to open so they can eat it.”

“Some fish (eels and groupers) form hunting partnerships where they communicate across the species barrier with specific signals to put their individual strengths to work (the eels chase prey out of crevices to where the groupers are waiting in open water).”

“They also get fooled by illusions in the same way we do, meaning that their brains are processing and interpreting their environment in a similar way to us.”

“That’s technically three facts but I like fish.” — BoldlyGone1

“There’s an insect called the scorpiofly that impresses mates by bringing them prey to eat. The bigger the meal, the better.”

“Only, some scorpionflies aren’t that great at catching food. So some of these males will imitate females, and wait for other males to bring them their gifts. Then they take the gift, fly away, and give it to an actual female.” — smiffypiffy

“On ostrich farms, some farmers have a hard time with breeding because the ostrich is more attracted to humans than other ostriches.”

“That’s right, somewhere out there an ostrich wants to fu** you.” — cleancutPunk

“Dogs may make social judgements about people based on how those people treat their owners. A study out of Japan had dog owners asking two people for help opening a container. There were three possible outcomes.”

A person reacting negatively by refusing and turning away, a person remaining neutral and a person helping. The dogs were then offered food from the people the owner had approached for help.”

“Dogs were much much less likely to accept food from the people who had refused to help their owners, and much more likely to accept food from those who had been neutral or who had helped.” — LogicalMess

Then came mention of those out-there behaviors. 

“Snapping/pistol shrimps and their colonies are so loud that they can interfere with sonar used by other animals and submarines.”

They also create tiny but incredibly powerful explosions implosions through the sheer force of their pincers closing ludicrously fast, which is cool.” — SolipsistAngel

“A green sea turtle can swim faster than Usain bolt can sprint. An animal out there with a house for a body can swim at speeds we don’t allow in playground zones 35MPH.” — rkhbusa

“Avocados were evolved to be eaten by the giant ground sloth. Imagine a sloth, but so massive it could only live on the ground. The flesh attracted the sloth and the very large seed was ‘designed’ to travel through their intestinal tract for re-seeding or whatever plants do.”

“Humans killed the sloth but loved the avo. We domesticated the avo to increase the yummy flesh. The pit has gotten smaller but is still very large. Whenever you eat an avo, think of the long extinct giant sloth.” — quokkafarts

“I’ve said this in my own thread but I’ll say it again.”

“Porcupines climb trees and come down backwards and use their tail to feel for the ground. Sometimes their tail will hit a branch and they will think it is the ground and so they will jump off and impale themselves.”

“Over time they evolved to have antibiotics in their quills so when they fall out of trees they don’t die.” — otterdragon

“Squirrels are responsible for thousands of new trees every year. They collect and bury their nuts all over the place so they’ll have food to last thru winter, but they forget about most of them.” — southwycke75344

And a few talked about what was myth and what was real. 

“Scientists thought the platypus was a joke until they send a dead one back to be studied.” — [deleted]

“People thought the okapi was a hoax until it was photographed. In parts of Sumatra it is believed that the orangutan can speak and refuses to do so because they don’t want to work.” — Victoresball

So there you have it.

Plenty of bizarre, fascinating, grotesque tidbits to keep you stocked for any lull in conversation.

Posted on

People Break Out Their Most Obscure Animal Facts

Everybody loves a good fun fact.

They’re worth their weight in gold when you find yourself at an intimidating team-builder or other ice breaker situation.

On top of that, if you can master the art of injecting them into conversation without sounding like a middle school science teacher, you can rely on them to turn a boring chat around at a party.

And of all the fun facts, the animal ones seem to pique our interest more than most others.

Those creatures all around continue to fascinate us with their mysterious behaviors—often genius—behaviors.

Apparently Redditor KnightsWhoSayKni was fresh out of those facts, so they asked a simple, yet compelling question:

“What’s your #1 obscure animal fact?”

People came locked and loaded with all sorts of weird truths.

One common area of intrigue was, of course, anatomy.

“The American bison is the only animal in which both lungs share a common cavity. In every other animal the lungs are separated. What this meant is that when shot by an arrow, both lungs would collapse and the buffalo would suffocate quickly.”

“(For other animals, being shot in the chest would only collapse one lung, and they would at least have a chance) That’s why such a large animal could be taken down with relatively small weapons.” — angmarsilar

“Sloth hands work opposite to ours. They have to exert energy to open their ‘fist’ and relax to close it. This is how they can hang from trees while they’re sleeping and not fall off.” — liripipe

“Ancient penguins could have been up to 7 feet tall.” — StarsandstampS

“Some squid have toroid shaped (donut) brains, and their esophagus (throat) passing through it. If they eat something too big they can get brain damage.” — horch13

“Bird poop is white because they don’t secrete ammonia in urea like we do when we pee so it comes out in one movement and as nearly pure ammonia. Why that stuff eats your car paint!” — dave-pumpkins

Plenty of people were fascinated by the mental tendencies of certain animals. 

“Fish have been seen using tools – deliberately hitting a clam with a rock to get it to open so they can eat it.”

“Some fish (eels and groupers) form hunting partnerships where they communicate across the species barrier with specific signals to put their individual strengths to work (the eels chase prey out of crevices to where the groupers are waiting in open water).”

“They also get fooled by illusions in the same way we do, meaning that their brains are processing and interpreting their environment in a similar way to us.”

“That’s technically three facts but I like fish.” — BoldlyGone1

“There’s an insect called the scorpiofly that impresses mates by bringing them prey to eat. The bigger the meal, the better.”

“Only, some scorpionflies aren’t that great at catching food. So some of these males will imitate females, and wait for other males to bring them their gifts. Then they take the gift, fly away, and give it to an actual female.” — smiffypiffy

“On ostrich farms, some farmers have a hard time with breeding because the ostrich is more attracted to humans than other ostriches.”

“That’s right, somewhere out there an ostrich wants to fu** you.” — cleancutPunk

“Dogs may make social judgements about people based on how those people treat their owners. A study out of Japan had dog owners asking two people for help opening a container. There were three possible outcomes.”

A person reacting negatively by refusing and turning away, a person remaining neutral and a person helping. The dogs were then offered food from the people the owner had approached for help.”

“Dogs were much much less likely to accept food from the people who had refused to help their owners, and much more likely to accept food from those who had been neutral or who had helped.” — LogicalMess

Then came mention of those out-there behaviors. 

“Snapping/pistol shrimps and their colonies are so loud that they can interfere with sonar used by other animals and submarines.”

They also create tiny but incredibly powerful explosions implosions through the sheer force of their pincers closing ludicrously fast, which is cool.” — SolipsistAngel

“A green sea turtle can swim faster than Usain bolt can sprint. An animal out there with a house for a body can swim at speeds we don’t allow in playground zones 35MPH.” — rkhbusa

“Avocados were evolved to be eaten by the giant ground sloth. Imagine a sloth, but so massive it could only live on the ground. The flesh attracted the sloth and the very large seed was ‘designed’ to travel through their intestinal tract for re-seeding or whatever plants do.”

“Humans killed the sloth but loved the avo. We domesticated the avo to increase the yummy flesh. The pit has gotten smaller but is still very large. Whenever you eat an avo, think of the long extinct giant sloth.” — quokkafarts

“I’ve said this in my own thread but I’ll say it again.”

“Porcupines climb trees and come down backwards and use their tail to feel for the ground. Sometimes their tail will hit a branch and they will think it is the ground and so they will jump off and impale themselves.”

“Over time they evolved to have antibiotics in their quills so when they fall out of trees they don’t die.” — otterdragon

“Squirrels are responsible for thousands of new trees every year. They collect and bury their nuts all over the place so they’ll have food to last thru winter, but they forget about most of them.” — southwycke75344

And a few talked about what was myth and what was real. 

“Scientists thought the platypus was a joke until they send a dead one back to be studied.” — [deleted]

“People thought the okapi was a hoax until it was photographed. In parts of Sumatra it is believed that the orangutan can speak and refuses to do so because they don’t want to work.” — Victoresball

So there you have it.

Plenty of bizarre, fascinating, grotesque tidbits to keep you stocked for any lull in conversation.

Posted on

People Break Out Their Most Obscure Animal Facts

Everybody loves a good fun fact.

They’re worth their weight in gold when you find yourself at an intimidating team-builder or other ice breaker situation.

On top of that, if you can master the art of injecting them into conversation without sounding like a middle school science teacher, you can rely on them to turn a boring chat around at a party.

And of all the fun facts, the animal ones seem to pique our interest more than most others.

Those creatures all around continue to fascinate us with their mysterious behaviors—often genius—behaviors.

Apparently Redditor KnightsWhoSayKni was fresh out of those facts, so they asked a simple, yet compelling question:

“What’s your #1 obscure animal fact?”

People came locked and loaded with all sorts of weird truths.

One common area of intrigue was, of course, anatomy.

“The American bison is the only animal in which both lungs share a common cavity. In every other animal the lungs are separated. What this meant is that when shot by an arrow, both lungs would collapse and the buffalo would suffocate quickly.”

“(For other animals, being shot in the chest would only collapse one lung, and they would at least have a chance) That’s why such a large animal could be taken down with relatively small weapons.” — angmarsilar

“Sloth hands work opposite to ours. They have to exert energy to open their ‘fist’ and relax to close it. This is how they can hang from trees while they’re sleeping and not fall off.” — liripipe

“Ancient penguins could have been up to 7 feet tall.” — StarsandstampS

“Some squid have toroid shaped (donut) brains, and their esophagus (throat) passing through it. If they eat something too big they can get brain damage.” — horch13

“Bird poop is white because they don’t secrete ammonia in urea like we do when we pee so it comes out in one movement and as nearly pure ammonia. Why that stuff eats your car paint!” — dave-pumpkins

Plenty of people were fascinated by the mental tendencies of certain animals. 

“Fish have been seen using tools – deliberately hitting a clam with a rock to get it to open so they can eat it.”

“Some fish (eels and groupers) form hunting partnerships where they communicate across the species barrier with specific signals to put their individual strengths to work (the eels chase prey out of crevices to where the groupers are waiting in open water).”

“They also get fooled by illusions in the same way we do, meaning that their brains are processing and interpreting their environment in a similar way to us.”

“That’s technically three facts but I like fish.” — BoldlyGone1

“There’s an insect called the scorpiofly that impresses mates by bringing them prey to eat. The bigger the meal, the better.”

“Only, some scorpionflies aren’t that great at catching food. So some of these males will imitate females, and wait for other males to bring them their gifts. Then they take the gift, fly away, and give it to an actual female.” — smiffypiffy

“On ostrich farms, some farmers have a hard time with breeding because the ostrich is more attracted to humans than other ostriches.”

“That’s right, somewhere out there an ostrich wants to fu** you.” — cleancutPunk

“Dogs may make social judgements about people based on how those people treat their owners. A study out of Japan had dog owners asking two people for help opening a container. There were three possible outcomes.”

A person reacting negatively by refusing and turning away, a person remaining neutral and a person helping. The dogs were then offered food from the people the owner had approached for help.”

“Dogs were much much less likely to accept food from the people who had refused to help their owners, and much more likely to accept food from those who had been neutral or who had helped.” — LogicalMess

Then came mention of those out-there behaviors. 

“Snapping/pistol shrimps and their colonies are so loud that they can interfere with sonar used by other animals and submarines.”

They also create tiny but incredibly powerful explosions implosions through the sheer force of their pincers closing ludicrously fast, which is cool.” — SolipsistAngel

“A green sea turtle can swim faster than Usain bolt can sprint. An animal out there with a house for a body can swim at speeds we don’t allow in playground zones 35MPH.” — rkhbusa

“Avocados were evolved to be eaten by the giant ground sloth. Imagine a sloth, but so massive it could only live on the ground. The flesh attracted the sloth and the very large seed was ‘designed’ to travel through their intestinal tract for re-seeding or whatever plants do.”

“Humans killed the sloth but loved the avo. We domesticated the avo to increase the yummy flesh. The pit has gotten smaller but is still very large. Whenever you eat an avo, think of the long extinct giant sloth.” — quokkafarts

“I’ve said this in my own thread but I’ll say it again.”

“Porcupines climb trees and come down backwards and use their tail to feel for the ground. Sometimes their tail will hit a branch and they will think it is the ground and so they will jump off and impale themselves.”

“Over time they evolved to have antibiotics in their quills so when they fall out of trees they don’t die.” — otterdragon

“Squirrels are responsible for thousands of new trees every year. They collect and bury their nuts all over the place so they’ll have food to last thru winter, but they forget about most of them.” — southwycke75344

And a few talked about what was myth and what was real. 

“Scientists thought the platypus was a joke until they send a dead one back to be studied.” — [deleted]

“People thought the okapi was a hoax until it was photographed. In parts of Sumatra it is believed that the orangutan can speak and refuses to do so because they don’t want to work.” — Victoresball

So there you have it.

Plenty of bizarre, fascinating, grotesque tidbits to keep you stocked for any lull in conversation.

Posted on

People Break Out Their Most Obscure Animal Facts

Everybody loves a good fun fact.

They’re worth their weight in gold when you find yourself at an intimidating team-builder or other ice breaker situation.

On top of that, if you can master the art of injecting them into conversation without sounding like a middle school science teacher, you can rely on them to turn a boring chat around at a party.

And of all the fun facts, the animal ones seem to pique our interest more than most others.

Those creatures all around continue to fascinate us with their mysterious behaviors—often genius—behaviors.

Apparently Redditor KnightsWhoSayKni was fresh out of those facts, so they asked a simple, yet compelling question:

“What’s your #1 obscure animal fact?”

People came locked and loaded with all sorts of weird truths.

One common area of intrigue was, of course, anatomy.

“The American bison is the only animal in which both lungs share a common cavity. In every other animal the lungs are separated. What this meant is that when shot by an arrow, both lungs would collapse and the buffalo would suffocate quickly.”

“(For other animals, being shot in the chest would only collapse one lung, and they would at least have a chance) That’s why such a large animal could be taken down with relatively small weapons.” — angmarsilar

“Sloth hands work opposite to ours. They have to exert energy to open their ‘fist’ and relax to close it. This is how they can hang from trees while they’re sleeping and not fall off.” — liripipe

“Ancient penguins could have been up to 7 feet tall.” — StarsandstampS

“Some squid have toroid shaped (donut) brains, and their esophagus (throat) passing through it. If they eat something too big they can get brain damage.” — horch13

“Bird poop is white because they don’t secrete ammonia in urea like we do when we pee so it comes out in one movement and as nearly pure ammonia. Why that stuff eats your car paint!” — dave-pumpkins

Plenty of people were fascinated by the mental tendencies of certain animals. 

“Fish have been seen using tools – deliberately hitting a clam with a rock to get it to open so they can eat it.”

“Some fish (eels and groupers) form hunting partnerships where they communicate across the species barrier with specific signals to put their individual strengths to work (the eels chase prey out of crevices to where the groupers are waiting in open water).”

“They also get fooled by illusions in the same way we do, meaning that their brains are processing and interpreting their environment in a similar way to us.”

“That’s technically three facts but I like fish.” — BoldlyGone1

“There’s an insect called the scorpiofly that impresses mates by bringing them prey to eat. The bigger the meal, the better.”

“Only, some scorpionflies aren’t that great at catching food. So some of these males will imitate females, and wait for other males to bring them their gifts. Then they take the gift, fly away, and give it to an actual female.” — smiffypiffy

“On ostrich farms, some farmers have a hard time with breeding because the ostrich is more attracted to humans than other ostriches.”

“That’s right, somewhere out there an ostrich wants to fu** you.” — cleancutPunk

“Dogs may make social judgements about people based on how those people treat their owners. A study out of Japan had dog owners asking two people for help opening a container. There were three possible outcomes.”

A person reacting negatively by refusing and turning away, a person remaining neutral and a person helping. The dogs were then offered food from the people the owner had approached for help.”

“Dogs were much much less likely to accept food from the people who had refused to help their owners, and much more likely to accept food from those who had been neutral or who had helped.” — LogicalMess

Then came mention of those out-there behaviors. 

“Snapping/pistol shrimps and their colonies are so loud that they can interfere with sonar used by other animals and submarines.”

They also create tiny but incredibly powerful explosions implosions through the sheer force of their pincers closing ludicrously fast, which is cool.” — SolipsistAngel

“A green sea turtle can swim faster than Usain bolt can sprint. An animal out there with a house for a body can swim at speeds we don’t allow in playground zones 35MPH.” — rkhbusa

“Avocados were evolved to be eaten by the giant ground sloth. Imagine a sloth, but so massive it could only live on the ground. The flesh attracted the sloth and the very large seed was ‘designed’ to travel through their intestinal tract for re-seeding or whatever plants do.”

“Humans killed the sloth but loved the avo. We domesticated the avo to increase the yummy flesh. The pit has gotten smaller but is still very large. Whenever you eat an avo, think of the long extinct giant sloth.” — quokkafarts

“I’ve said this in my own thread but I’ll say it again.”

“Porcupines climb trees and come down backwards and use their tail to feel for the ground. Sometimes their tail will hit a branch and they will think it is the ground and so they will jump off and impale themselves.”

“Over time they evolved to have antibiotics in their quills so when they fall out of trees they don’t die.” — otterdragon

“Squirrels are responsible for thousands of new trees every year. They collect and bury their nuts all over the place so they’ll have food to last thru winter, but they forget about most of them.” — southwycke75344

And a few talked about what was myth and what was real. 

“Scientists thought the platypus was a joke until they send a dead one back to be studied.” — [deleted]

“People thought the okapi was a hoax until it was photographed. In parts of Sumatra it is believed that the orangutan can speak and refuses to do so because they don’t want to work.” — Victoresball

So there you have it.

Plenty of bizarre, fascinating, grotesque tidbits to keep you stocked for any lull in conversation.

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People Explain Which Items Everyone Should Stock In Their Fridge At All Times

I never know what’s in my fridge, until the smell overpowers me.

I know, that’s terrible. So first, I should probably acquire a maid for my fridge.

For me, the first item on my essentials list, for the kitchen’s most essential item, is cleanliness. Then chilled water and fruits, all kinds.

Home Ec life lesson number one… every refrigerator should house a few necessary key ingredients that make the home and life function.

Our meals begin there and it’s how our nutrients stay fresh. So what makes the permanent cut for your cooler?

Redditor connnor4real was also wondering the same thing, they asked:

What is essential to have in your fridge at all times?

Stay High!

“Having just condiments is pretty sad, but not having condiments at all is a whole different level of low.”   ~ 1SweetChuck

“The feeling of buying the ingredients to make something you really fancy.”

“It’s ready and you’re just about to eat so you open the fridge and realise at the last second that you don’t have that one specific condiment you like with it.”   ~ Reddit

Life’s Most Hidden “Treasures.”

“A strange jar of something completely unlabelled and hidden toward the back. It stays there for years and keeps people guessing.”  ~ turboyabby

“When we were renovating our stairs we found a few jars of asparagus from the 1930s.”

“We also threw a lot of old food away after my grandpa passed, but unfortunately I didn’t pay attention to the dates on it.”

“Old houses and old people are always interested in this regard.”   ~ Jidaque

I have nothing to shake!

“I’ll never forget the time I was invited to eat at my aunt’s boyfriend’s house (why, I have no clue). I had to have been around 11 or so.”

“The man had no salt. No salt-like product. How do you not own salt?”

“If you choose not to eat salt for whatever reason, how do you not own salt for people you invite over? It’s like the one basic seasoning.”

“I’m 41 and whenever that comes to mind I still get annoyed at the idea of it.”  ~ manderly808

Don’t be without your shot!

“If you’re a type 1 diabetic, a nicely chilled stockpile of insulin.”  ~ DarthContinent

“It has to be in the butter compartment though, amirite? We call it the insulin penthouse.”

“Edit: lots of people mentioning the butter compartment is a bad spot to store insulin.”

“This is very fridge design dependant. Our insulin penthouse stays a pretty consistent 5-6°C. Most insulin should be stored between 2-8°C.”  ~ xisonc

“I’ve had bottles fly out of butter compartments when I open the door quick. So now I put my insulin and juice in the crisper drawer and call it the diabetes drawer.”

“Any veggies I would keep in there were are gonna go bad before I eat them anyway.” ~ Clynnhof

Keep the Spices Close!!

“Some kinda hot sauce, I go for cholula and sriracha.”

“Yo I’m very aware you don’t need them in the fridge to stay good. Also thanks for the recommendations everyone!”  ~ BewareTheLobster

“We keep El Yucateco, Cholula, Louisiana, Tabasco, Huichol, Valentina, and Tapatío.”

“Also often keep a more home style jalapeño and tomatillo or chile de árbol salsa.”

“Once in awhile the molcajéte will show up with various salsas in it, or whatever was left over from the last trip to the taqueria.”

“I could go for some chile morita salsa. And carnitas.”  ~ CoherentLogic

All that is Left Behind…

“Leftovers that I will never actually eat.” ~ wehosh

“Leftovers go through 3 phases…”

“1) I can still eat this because I just cooked it yesterday but I won’t.”

“2) It’s been 2-3 days, I should really eat that now before it goes bad.”

“3) Why did I even save that, now it’s been 4 days and it’s definitely bad but I don’t want to throw it out and let it sit in my garbage can so might as well wait until garbage day.”

“Edit: Yes I get it. You can eat leftovers after 4 days. That’s great.”

“Personally I have leftover fish in my fridge from Thursday and it’s in phase 3. But if you want to eat food a week after it’s been cooked be my guest.”  ~ Blaine_The_Mono_

Just in case Bugs Bunny swings by…

“Carrots… just because.”  ~ ejsfsc07

“If they need to be in the fridge, why do they not live in the fridge section of the supermarket?”

“I guess it depends how long you plan to keep them before eating them, I never had a problem having them in my room.”  ~ KorhakaFor carrots? 

“For carrots? In the south US at least, the whole carrots are always in the cooled off veggie section (no doors, lower temps, sprayed with water throughout the day).”

“And the cut and shredded bags are definitely in the refrigerated veggie section (even lower temps along with lettuce and salad bags, sometimes with doors depending on store).”  ~ unboundartist

Spreading for the carbs

“Anything that can be used on bread. Cheese, pâté, any kind of savoury spread.”

“I lost all pleasure to cook when my partner died, and bread+spreadables is my usual go-to. Oh, and eggs.” ~ LadyOfSighs

Whenever I Need it… I Need it!!

“Shredded cheese and tortillas. Gotta be able to make a quesadilla at the drop of a hat.”

We get the 50 pack at Costco. They sell it next to the bread, out in the open. It comes in two bags of 25, so one goes in the fridge and one in the freezer.”

“Yeah, they last a lot longer. If you’re getting a smaller quantity and getting through the bag before they grow fuzz, you’re probably ok.”  ~ NoSoul2335

Gotta give the box life…

“Electricity.”  ~ DavosLostFingers

“As someone who lives in one of the areas that have recently been flooded, this is definitely the most importing thing.”

“A lot of the things in the fridge were gone, but the worst part was that we weren’t able to conserve any of these.”  ~ Jeff_the_Officer

I Can’t See!

“Working light bulb.”  ~ SnooPears3006</

“Yes! Mine blew a few weeks ago and that’s never happened to me before. I had no idea what to do.

“I ended up finding a light bulb at the store easily enough the next day but until then, trying to find something in the fridge was so hard!!”

“We take advantage of that little thing!”  ~ Smil3yAngel

Well I now I have to go shopping.

My fridge is a sad, desolate place. I do have butter though, it’s a start.

Oh, and corn. I love corn.

Maybe we all need to start thinking in survival mode when we stock up and not just for our refrigerators, our cabinets too.

If Covid taught us anything, it’s that everything you may want or need, may be gone quickly, so always make sure the essentials are there.

Did anyone else’s shopping list just grow exponentially?

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People Divulge The Absolute Best Questions To Ask In A Job Interview

The job interview process is almost always stressful, and that’s only after you’ve sent in enough resumés and applications to get someone to offer you an interview in the first place.

Knowing what to ask your interviewer when they ask you “Do you have any questions for us?” is often the most nerve-wracking part of the interview itself.

But below, you’ll find some great questions to ask your potential employer during your next interview.

Reddit user fmgame asked:

“What is THE best question to ask on a job interview?”

Ask About Your Predecessor

“One that has always gone over well for me: ‘What were some qualities that the previous employee in this role brought to the job that you would like to see carried forward?’”

“Another good thing to do is research the company you are interviewing with and you can ask things about what they may be involved in or you could drop that while reading about the company, you wondered this.” –uneasyandcheesy

Ask For Your Interviewer’s Expertise

“When you were interviewing here, what would you have liked to know before you joined?” –BeBackInASchmeck

“This worked for me. I asked my interviewer a question about how she had personally dealt with a company policy she had just explained.”

“She bragged about her stellar adherence to the policy. I nodded my approval. I got the job.” –slowbreaths

“This sounds like it allows too much room for them to promote themselves or the company. It’s not a bad question, I just think it will be hard to get an honest answer.” –Dukeronomy

“But are we looking for an honest answer, or just trying to get hired?” –DungeonsAndDragonsD*ldos

What Do They Want From You?

“Ask them what is the biggest problem you can solve for them in your first six months with the company. Similar to ‘don’t think of a purple hippo,’ this forces them to imagine you succeeding in the position.” –stack_cats

“I asked this question in the interview for my current job. The answer I got was great:”

“‘Nothing. Just settle in, find your feet, concentrate on doing the basics right. We’ll sort out some challenges for you next year’.”

“It meant that I felt really relaxed and at ease when I started, knowing that I didn’t have to make any grand statements early on in my career here.” –SamwiseTheOppressed

This One Can Help You Weed Out Places That Aren’t A Good Fit

“What do you like best about working here?” –SJExit4

“This question has helped a lot to get an accurate view on the employer” –HurricaneHugo

“‘Good work-life balance, open and transparent communication, and a healthy work environment,’ even if none of those things are true.” –reallydarnconfused

“In February I asked this question in a job interview and the immediate response of the guy interviewing me is to look down and laugh a bit.”

“He then told me the likes the ‘balance’ and the ‘comradeship’ and that it feels like ‘family’.”

“That didn’t satisfy me but they proceeded to hire me a week later and I accepted. That comradeship he was talking about was true.”

“It was a group of 15 people and they were all 45+ and older and we’re highly racist towards everyone not German enough.”

“I quit after 2 months after listening to daily right wing conspiracies and whining about foreigners.” –Shaawny

Are They A Good Manager?

“A question that landed me a job once was: ‘If I asked your direct reports about your management style, what do you think they’d tell me?’ Stumped a hiring manager and he emailed me personally to tell me about it, no one ever asked him that question but I got the job.”

“In my current interviews I’m asking ‘what did your company do for its employees during COVID to improve their day to day, work life balance, etc.’ and I ask ‘Is there anything your company adopted during COVID that they plan to keep post COVID?’”

“These questions give a lot of insight into whether a company treated their employees well.”

“Other questions that I’ve been complemented on are:”

“‘If we were currently sitting in my 1 year review, what would I have done in this year for you to say I excelled in my role?’”

“‘If I could snap my finger right now and change anything about your job or the company, what would it be and why?’” –Ophelia_AO

“When I’m interviewing, if it’s not offered proactively, I ask to meet some of the team I would be working with – and have a meeting where the hiring manager was not present.”

“When I’m talking with my potential coworkers I can them ask them about daily tasks/projects, any challenges, and what it’s like to work with the hiring manager. Not being able to meet with them separate from the hiring manager would be a red flag.”

“But then a couple of years ago I was interviewing and was offered a job where I would be the first employee at a company. The owner had previously done a lot of his business with contractors, and wanted to bring on an employee.”

“Obviously there were no coworkers for me to interview, since I would be the first one hired.”

“I did a couple of interviews with the owner, and he said he definitely wants to offer me the position, and he asked me to email him my references.”

“I said I would, and then I noted that normally I would want to speak with coworkers, but since that was not really possible I asked him for references of his own – specifically some who could speak to his management style.”

“He apparently loved that I did that. Said he had never been asked that before, and I could see he was surprised and hadn’t even thought about it.”

“But he agreed to send me an email later that night.”

“What I really appreciated was that he didn’t just give me people who were his direct reports in past jobs. He gave me a couple of levels of people to speak to.”

“One reference was someone who he directly managed previously. This one could speak about his long term experience with my prospective boss, and management style, and whether or not he was a micromanager (was not one, yay).”

“One reference was someone who was currently a managing partner at a pretty big Australian company. They had been VPs at the same time, managing different divisions at a previous company.”

“This one could speak to the leadership style, how my prospective boss approached business problems, and about his vision for the company. They had a long history, and it was really valuable to understand that my boss had a 5 year and 10 year plan for the business that was well thought out.”

“And I think the third reference was a current contractor at the company I was thinking about joining. This one was able to speak about current management style, and current projects I would work on.”

“Got valuable info from all of those references, and I accepted the job”

“Absolutely all of them were accurate about him as a manager.”

“A year or so later told me that me making the request for his references stood out – he took it as a sign that I was a good choice.”

“I don’t work for him anymore, but he’s still one of the best managers I have ever had.”

“The only manager I ever had who when he was trying to hire more people, came to me and said that in trying to hire he had come to realize that he was underpaying me, and gave me a $10k raise on the spot.” –LadyCiani

This One’s Important

“Why is this position open?” –TXJOEMAMA

“The position was ALWAYS hiring (call centre) so I asked them what their turnover rate was… 20% per month.”

“I lasted a good while. I had the highest call ratings in the company, and several customers spoke to or sent letters to my manager about how much they appreciated my help.”

“But I also had the lowest amount of calls taken per shift. Because of that, they never gave me my monthly award in front of the other staff.”

“They didn’t want anyone else to think they could get away with it.”

“Quantity, not quality.” –blameitonmyouth

Not Everyone Wants To Move Up

“Perhaps not the best but very interesting. A candidate asked me if it is possible in our company to get a significant raise without climbing up the career ladder in our company.”

“This guy never wanted to be a manager, he wanted to do what he applied for but wanted to know it will be well paid.”

“We hired him. He’s introvert, working alone in his ‘basement’ but he’s great at what he does.” –Nathaniel66

Job interviews are often stressful, but hopefully these suggestions about what to ask your interviewer make at least part of the process easier.

Happy job hunting!

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People Share The Absolute Weirdest Facts They Know

In our primary school years, many of us took great pride in the weirdest, most fun facts we could spout out to our friends and family members on command.

Some of us, though, never lost that passion and continued collecting factoids about the world around us.

Redditor lovedump44 asked: 

“Reddit, what is the weirdest FACT you know?”

Some talked about the state of Maine.

“Maine is the closest U.S. state to Africa.” – Donald_Keyman

“[Maine] is also the only state with one syllable in its name.” – BatskyStarman

The state of Ohio had something going for it, too.

“Ohio is the only state to not share a letter with the word ‘mackerel.’” – hunter07100

There was quite the unexpected fact about sea cucumbers.

“I know that sea cucumbers, to protect themselves from enemies, will hurl their own internal organs at anything threatening them.”

“Pretty wild, I think, but it doesn’t hurt the critter none. The sea cucumber can regrow whatever organs he lost with ease.” – aintyourma

Penguins have an unexpected skill, too.

“Penguins have a gland above their noses that removes salt from seawater.” – Servb0t

Some Redditors loved sharing facts about otters.

“Otters have a secret pocket where they carry their favorite rock.” – theoldraven

“[Otters] also hold hands when they sleep.” – jellyshoes11

“[Otters hold hands]…so they don’t drift apart. We can’t forget the adorable reason!” – biospark02

LEGO was represented on a technicality. 

“LEGO is the world’s largest producer of tires.” – UncensoredChef

This inspired a piece of trivia from the first LEGO Movie.

“In the LEGO Movie, they put fingerprints and scratches on pieces to make the legos looked like they were well played with.” – hannakah_ham

Speaking of yellow characters, Pac-Man was also mentioned.

“If you put your finger in your ear and scratch, it sounds just like Pac-Man.” – Donald_Keyman

And while we’re on the subject of scratching…

“Bonus Fact: If your throat is itching, you can make it stop by scratching your ear.” – Rywell

Some startling timeline facts had to be shared, too.

“Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the iPhone than she did to the building of the Great Pyramid.” – Donald_Keyman

“More time has passed between 9/11 and today, than 9/11 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.” – chicochic

“The Tyrannosaurus Rex was more likely to have gone to a Miley Cyrus concert than to have ever fought against a Stegosaurus (chronologically).” – Baldybeardy

Two Redditors enjoyed thinking of how we’re all connected.

“Astronomer here! If you look at the large-scale structure of the universe, it looks an awful lot like a brain cell.”

“I always thought that was really weird, but also a neat coincidence.” – Andromeda321

“We are more empty space than we are solid matter.” – its_the_peanutiest

Three Redditors considered how fantastically small some things are.

“There are more stars in space than there are grains of sand on every beach in the world…” – hotbuk**ke

“Russia has a larger surface area than Pluto.” – Swaily_P

“You can fit 3 Jupiters in the space between the Earth and our Moon.” – Question_4_you_guys

Two Redditors mentioned some surprising finds.

“A tomato plant was found on a 40-year-old volcanic island by the name of Surtsey. Scientists were baffled about how it got there.”

“Turns out a scientist took a dump which contained tomato seeds, and the plant grew.” – speeds_03

“Antarctica has two ATM machines. However, only 1 of them is working…” – Nebih

Three Redditors couldn’t choose just one factoid to share.

“Here are some interesting and odd facts:”

“Mammoths went extinct over 1000 years after the building of the great pyramid in Egypt.”

“A strawberry isn’t a berry, but an avocado is.”

“The can opener was invented 50 years after the can. They used bayonets or smashed them open with rocks in the intervening time. The rotating can opener that we’re familiar with took over 100 years to finalize.”

“The spikes on a stegosaurus’ tail are known by paleontologists as the thagomizer, which is a term coined by none other than Gary Larson in the Far Side cartoons.” – techniforus

“The world’s deepest postbox is in Susami Bay in Japan. It’s 10 meters underwater.”

“Light doesn’t necessarily travel at the speed of light. The slowest we’ve ever recorded light moving at is 38 mph (miles per hour).”

“In 1567, the man said to have the longest beard in the world died after he tripped over his beard while running away from a fire.”

“There are more fake flamingos in the world than real flamingos.”

“[Until 2016] the last time the Chicago Cubs won the baseball World Series, the Ottoman Empire still existed, and women did not have the right to vote in the United States.”

“John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States, has a grandson who’s still alive today.” – Donald_Keyman

“Abraham Lincoln created the Secret Service on the day he was fatally shot. At the time, it wasn’t charged with protecting the President, but still…”

“John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved Lincoln’s son’s life.”

“Furbies are banned from the NSA’s offices — as they may be spies. (They’re not really spies, but the NSA is being extra-careful.)”

“If your name is Richard Parker, stay the hell away from boats.”

“In March of 1951, both the US and UK were introduced to Dennis the Menace comics. But the two Dennis [characters] were totally different and their creators didn’t know about the other one across the Atlantic.”

“The US Civil War started on Wilmer McLean’s farm. He left the area shortly thereafter but couldn’t avoid the war, as it ended at the home he fled to.”

“The code names of the beaches used for the D-Day landings appeared in crossword puzzles before the campaign.”

“The people who make government pens will never see the words those pens write because all those people are blind.”

“Mountain Dew once admitted that mice would dissolve into a jelly-like substance in order to win a lawsuit.”

“There’s a massive, burning pit of natural gas aflame in Turkmenistan which has been burning since the early 1970s.”

“The US once considered nuking the moon, and Carl Sagan worked on the project.” – MrDNL

From facts about space to the strangest finds on Earth, combined with animal oddities and surprising timeline overlaps, these facts left many a fellow Redditor stunned, as well as wondering what other odd trivia they could uncover.

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People Break Down Factoids That Almost Feel Illegal To Know

The world is a place absolutely saturated with information.  Facts and knowledge surround each and every surface of your day-to-day life.

You need to know what temperature to cook your chicken.  You need to know how to get from your house to the post office.

You know so many things, and you don’t even know how many you know.

But then there are some things you are acutely aware of knowing—because you feel like you shouldn’t know them.  These are facts you found out by complete accident or by complete necessity and there’s almost no in‐between.

The only reason you know these kinds of facts is because they somehow snuck their way into your life.

So, when Redditor poisionivey3 asked:

“What’s a piece of information you know that feels illegal to know?”

Here were some of those little factoids that freaked people out.

Security Is A Joke

“Most conventional locks, like door locks from the hardware store or padlocks, are a joke. Hell you can take your house key and go door to door and eventually find aanother door that it’ll open.”

“What they’re counting on is that most people aren’t going to make the effort to acquire or make lock picking tools, then learn how to use them.”-frightenedhugger

“Really (before 1997/98 or so) old microsoft product keys relied on a REALLY simple validity check.”

“They were numbers in the form XXXX-YYYYYYY. The first 4 digits were specific to the software (I think Office 97 was 0402?) and fixed.”

“The last 7 .. the check was just that the sum of all digits has to be able to be divided by 7 without rest.”

“So 1111111 worked all the time. 1234567 worked all the time, 7777777 did.”-cerker

“If your local Walmart is closed overnight but there are employees working there, the doors probably aren’t locked and the self check registers are on.”

“There’s actually nothing keeping you from going in there, picking up a few items, using self checkout and walking out.”

“I work at Walmart overnight and this guy did that a couple nights ago. He didn’t speak English and when a manager noticed him they actually just escorted him to grab his items, check out and go.”-lenniemane

“A lot of military contract fleet vehicles use the same key for the entire fleet. Lowest bidders and all. And even then a lot of them are just keys to the door.”

“The actual ignition switch is just a knob on the dash.”

“Same vain fords crown victoria police interceptor variants all use the same key. It’s not even restricted you can buy them online.”-SkyAdministrative970

Stupid Life Hacks

“Back in the day, we used to go to this very popular night club, where people started lining up at 6pm. Met a guy inside partying one night wearing an orange construction vest.”

“He said he bypassed the entire line and they let him right in the door, because he was wearing that vest and carrying a clipboard. He told the bouncers he was the Fire Marshal.”-Rubyshooz

“A school trip in a downtown metro area for geography had us carrying clipboards around to mark off points on a map.”

“When we decided to eat, we found an Asian food restaurant. Walking in to this particular restaurant with a clipboard set them into panic mode.”

“So, we played along and went to inspect the kitchen, ran out fingers under the counter and made a few fake notes.”

“After a few minutes, my friend and I agreed they passed the inspection and we left the restaurant and found somewhere else to eat.”-Silken-red

“Car website company I used to work for (around 15 years ago) sold themselves as being the safest place to buy new and used cars”.

“Claiming they would check every car added to their website to make sure it wasn’t stolen or previously totalled.”

“Only problem is that they only carry out these tests every few months and the sales team actively inform their car dealership clients when this will happen, so they have the opportunity to take any stolen cars off the site first.”-CptBloodyObvious

Do Not Ingest

“There are plenty of toxic plants around, whether cultivated or wild. Poison hemlock, which is an invasive that grows in huge patches, is deadly if you consume just a few leaves.”

“Nightshades are pretty common as well, though the toxicity of different species varies greatly. Spurges, which are pretty common and inconspicious garden weeds, have sap that is severely irritating to the eyes, and can even potentially be blinding. Isn’t nature wonderful?”-AggravatingCrow

“That restaurants often do really disgusting things and have disgusting issues.”

“I used to waitress and then later manage a pizza place — mosquitos in the drain, nests of mice, stink bug infestations…”

“…Flies feasting on food that falls behind the appliances that isn’t cleaned up frequently like it’s supposed to be, mold in the soda machine, expired ingredients still being used, etc.”

“It’s just.. a lot. I was very, very surprised. I knew that most restaurants naturally deal with these things from time to time, but I didn’t expect it to be this often.”

“I also didn’t expect for management to be so nonchalant about going against inspections and regulations.”

“Other restaurants that friends of mine have managed/otherwise worked at have also had similar issues and it’s pretty wild.”

“I’ve never eaten at the restaurant that I worked at since quitting. I wouldn’t trust it.”-lemonlady7

The Sad Truth Of Our Daily Lives

“For any single instance of crime, the chance of getting caught and punished is exceedingly low.”

“It’s dependent on the crime, and easily influenced via various precautions like planning and proper target acquisition.”

“Only 40% of murders are solved and the majority of those which are are fairly obvious. 15% for assault and 10% for rape and sexual abuse.”

“Most of the folks caught for violent or sex crimes are committing crimes of passion (when emotions overwhelm all else) often involving family members (especially common for child abuse) so put little thought into concealing it, hence, they get caught.”

“The number one serial killer alive today has a high score of 300+ and is still at large. He targets prostitutes and the homeless and other folks that nobody important gives a fuck about.”

“For property crimes you have to be either stupid or frequent. closure rates for these are like 4% for mugging and 2% for burglary, and like 0.1% for white collar crimes like wage theft. The best crook in this game is your boss.”

“Drug crimes are like 0.01% if you count each individual instance. Half of you folks reading this comment have committed one.”

“Basically, corporate crime is easy and everyone does it, property crime is more difficult and less worth the effort, violent crime is especially bad risk-reward, and drug crime is just an excuse to violence brown people.”

“Basically, criminal justice is an oxymoron. It’s all a game of luck.”-Reagalan

“Area 51 soldiers have special orders compared to other military bases.”

“If were to drive your car or truck a hair to close to the limits of property, soldiers will detain you and they actually can shoot you right then and there if they decide you’re a threat.”

“Normally other soldiers would just let other authorities like the higher ups handle trespassers but Area 51 soldiers have the right to kill someone if they feel like it.”-KrookedCell

It’s a privilege to live and to know.

We as humans are afforded that privilege so readily we even sometimes wish we didn’t have it.

Learning can be a blessing or a curse.

Choose wisely which things you truly want to know the truth about because what is known can’t be unknown.