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15 Pieces of Advice That Might Save You a Lot of Money

When it comes to saving money, every little bit of advice helps. We can all be smarter with our finances, so it’s time to keep your mouth shut and your ears open.

People on AskReddit weighed in with their advice.

1. Avoid them at all costs.

“Don’t use credit cards.

Unless you know you’re one of those people that will pay the bill off completely at the end of every month and want to take advantage of the rewards.

Even then… don’t use them.”

2. Check Amazon first.

“That thing you want might be way cheaper on Amazon.

You never know unless you search. It takes two minutes.”

3. Take this one to heart.

“Work like an adult, live like a college student.”

4. Don’t spend it.

“If you are lucky enough to receive a substantial inheritance, DON’T SPEND A DIME OF IT (unless you owe the mob some money and your legs are about to have a rough encounter with a baseball bat).

Seriously. I got about 10k from an inheritance while I was a senior in high school. I blew through it in less than a year. Most of it went towards cigarettes, pot, alcohol, other non essentials, etc. All I really have to show from it is my laptop.

Now I’m a sophomore in college and working a shitty job, donating plasma, and participating in research studies monthly just so I can make rent payments and pay off shitty internet service. I can’t even imagine how much easier my life would be if I had just saved that money or even invested some of it so help me out in the future.”

5. Not for everyone.

“For the youngins: Really think about if you want to go to college. It’s not for everyone.

There’s a lot of opportunities in the skilled trades now if you’re into one of them.

College can put you into major debt, so make sure you want to make the investment beforehand.”

6. Some good tips.

“Housing and food / eating out will eat a lot of budget if you let them. Live within your means.

Don’t get payday loans. Ever. Credit card interest will eat you alive if you make minimum payments, so if you must let a balance float, pay it off the next month.

Get a cheap but affordable car. You don’t need a $30k car. A $15k car will do, if you must by new. Appropriate tires will be cheaper than paying insurance deductibles or increased premiums if you live somewhere with weather. If you can take public transportation, you can save a lot by doing that instead of getting car in the first place.

Alcohol at a bar is very expensive. Buy Cards Against Humanity and have a guest bring a bottle of rum.

Save for a rainy day, even a little, every month or pay period.”

7. This will pay off when you’re older.

“Brush your teeth. Taking good care of your teeth will save you a shit ton of money.”

8. Don’t be a lead foot.

“Drive the speed limit and buckle your safety belt. It costs me $120 a month in car insurance for a 12 year-old Prius because I had a lead foot in my younger days.

Now I have a bad catalytic converter and my car is physically unable to exceed the speed limit. I haven’t received a ticket in two years & my insurance rates have flat-lined.”

9. Avoid the big-name companies.

“Instead of getting your taxes done with a big-name company, use a Mom-and-Pop company that has had the same owners for years.”

10. It’s pretty expensive.

“Learn to relax after work without drugs or alcohol.”

11. STOP.

“Just stop buying shit. Seriously, stop it. Look how much fucking junk you have that you don’t need and have never needed. Look how much of it was never any use or any fun.

Stop caving in to advertising and marketing and learn to stop buying garbage.”

12. Things won’t be as appealing.

“Go grocery shopping after you’ve eaten.”

13. Fund your fun.

“Get some kind of marketable skill in your twenties. A trade. An IT skill. Even if it is not your dream job. Then put time in doing it. It gives you something you can use to build income value on, by building experience in your field.

It might not be fun, but it will FUND your fun. That’s what jobs do.

Not many jobs are fun after 10 or 20 years, even if they were your dream job.

That’s why the call them jobs, not hobbies.”

14. As simple as that.

“Quit buying shit you don’t need with money you don’t have.”

15. And then there’s this…

“Men: Always wear a condom Women: Take your birth control every day.

There. Money and sanity saved.”

So… did you learn anything? Pick up any handy tips?

What about your own tips? Got some you’d like to share?

Let us know in the comments!

The post 15 Pieces of Advice That Might Save You a Lot of Money appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Reveal the Darkest Family Secrets They Ever Discovered

My family happens to be pretty tame, to the point where I was always a little surprised when my friends told me stories about their crazy parents. Growing up, I never understood quite how lucky I was to have a boring family – at least until I had already moved out.

And after reading these 13 AskReddit users stories about their family’s deep dark secrets only serves to reaffirm me.

Because THEY CRAY!

1.  NAZIS!

“I married this woman a few years ago.

After dating her a while, I could tell there was something strange about her family. She claimed that she didn’t know what part of the world her ancestors were from, didn’t know where her last name came from, her parents had blonde hair and blue eyes, but had Latino accents. I later found out their first language was Portuguese and they were from Brazil.

Anyway, about a year after we were married, she sat down with me and explained that her grandparents were avid Nazis who fled to Brazil just before the war ended. She obviously didn’t like for people to know this, and had a hard time finding a way to tell me. I didn’t really care. I told her that I loved her for who she was and it didn’t matter who her grandparents were, all that mattered was who she was.

Anyway, it seemed important for her that I meet her relatives in Brazil, and apparently, her parents went there to visit every few years. So we planned the most bizarre trip of my life. When you first arrive, nothing seems off about the colony. They speak Portuguese and German, they have jobs, they drive cars, they don’t stand out in any way except that they look different than other Brazilians. The colony is isolated, and the few locals who are around don’t seem to care of really quite grasp what’s going on.

But once you start talking to people, you realize that they are deeply disturbed and have a deep-seated hatred for anyone who is different from them, especially Jews. I remember one conversation I had with her great uncle, a man who, I kid you not, had a Hitler mustache.

‘If you are going to be a part of this family you have to understand what we are planning. This is not some sad, little nursing home for the Nazi way of life to die, it is merely an incubator.’”

2. Angry Venting

“Found out through an angry vent given by my mother, that most of my cousins aren’t legitimate, and most of my aunts had lied to their husbands about the true father of their children.

Also found out that there was a very large niche of the family I had never met and that no one really admits to – because they’re all inbred.”

3. Premarital Sex

“When I first started dating my girlfriend, I was invited to her very conservative Catholic parents’ 25th wedding anniversary party.

I was hanging out with her and her 24-year-old older brother afterwords, and she was talking about how her mom found her birth control earlier that week and lectured her about how wrong premarital sex was (we weren’t having sex). I quick did some mental math and said, ‘She shouldn’t talk since your brother’s birthday is in 5 months.’

They both looked at me with a crazy amount of shock on their faces. They had never figured that out.”

4. Postmortem

“My grandmother’s cousin married a man she met in college. They had a daughter and were married for maybe 40 years. 3 years ago, he passed with cancer. We were not shocked at this. After all, he was approaching 70 and had a bad form of cancer, and it was spreading fast. We were prepared for this.

What we weren’t prepared for was that after he passed, his wife found a journal of his which explained that for 35 years, he was having a another relationship with a man.

It was a shock to all of us. He was so committed to his wife, that he never left. But at the same time, it must have killed him to stay silent for such a long time.”

5. “Piece of crap award”

“Thought my parents divorced just as a mutual agreement but my father had an affair. He was a cop and slept with his partner’s wife. Up there for biggest piece of crap award. I was 6-years-old when this all happened, 19 now and just found out a couple months ago.

Father also hates me because I decided to get out of the Army after breaking both of my legs at airborne school. Found out he got out of the Marines for having flat feet that hurt. Aunt (his sister) told me that he drove from Georgia to Florida every weekend because he hated his time in the Marines so much. Tries to tell me I am a wuss and disowned me.”

6. WTF Moments

“A long time ago, back when I was still in middle school my mom’s best friend died. She wouldn’t tell me how she died. Only that it was sudden. When I asked why we weren’t going to the funeral she told me that there wouldn’t be one because ‘her body was being donated to science.’

I didn’t ask any more questions. That was the last time we ever talked about her.

Well, five months ago my mom handed me her phone to find the number for Domino’s and as I’m scrolling through her contacts I come across the phone number of the dead best friend. Biggest WTF moment of my life. The next day I called it from a pay phone at Waffle House and she picked up. I instantly recognized the voice and accent. She’s not dead. Second biggest WTF moment of my life.”

7. You got the hook-up

“My mom was born in Colombia and moved to the U.S. when she was 12. I never knew much about her family, and was told multiple variations of sugar coated stories by other family members whenever I tried to find out more about my family history.

I was already aware that the Italian side of my family (paternal) had ties to the mob in NJ and eventually moved to Miami where my parents would eventually meet. Through Google, I also found out that my grandfather was a snitch, ended up in the witness protection program after being implicated in a murder and being indicted for selling massive amounts of cocaine. Ok, I thought, I can deal with that knowledge. Crappy about the coke, but maybe my mom’s side wasn’t so bad?

Thanks to ancestry websites and Google, I soon discovered multiple newspaper articles from the 1980s that would indicate that my maternal Colombian grandparents were the leaders of a massive pot smuggling ring which, at the time, was referred to as the largest pot smuggling operations ever carried out in the U.S. Both my grandparents were sentenced to over 250 years each, but after that my trail ran cold and I do not know how or when they died.

Family rumors would have me believe that my grandfather died of a heart attack in jail soon after hearing that my grandmother was murdered in Colombia. My mom never talks about it and I don’t feel comfortable asking. Very few of my friends know about it, but I must say I find it ironic that my Italian paternal grandparents were coke dealers, while my Colombian maternal grandparents were prolific pot smugglers.”

8. “It was looked down upon”

“This happened in May of this year. I have a sister who is four years older than me and a half-brother who is 14 years older than me (from a different father).

My aunt, my mom’s sister, sent out an email to the entire family that vented about 60 years of hatred toward my mother. Right at the end of the email, my aunt clearly indicated that my mom had another kid that no one knew about and had given the kid up for adoption. Huge news to my family who knew nothing about this.

I asked my mom about this and found out that the father of the kid was my brother’s dad, but my mom and him weren’t married when this happened 45~ years ago, so it was looked down upon by others. My mom eventually married my brother’s father and had him, but that was a few years later. After they got a divorce, she got married to my dad about 8 years later.”

9. “Horse people”

“I found out that one of my ancestors was exiled from Russia for challenging an army officer to a duel (with swords) and winning. My ancestor worked in the czar’s stable, and the argument arose when the army officer insisted on riding my ancestor’s horse. The horse threw him off and the army officer shot it.

We’ve always been horse people.”

10. Dementia Confession 

“My mom and I cared for her father as he deteriorated with old age. As his mind went he told stories from the war, from his youth, and about my grandmother’s first husband.

My grandpa had a crush on her before WWII but never acted on it because he was dirt poor. He lied about his age and joined the Navy when he was somewhere between 14 and 16 so he could be respectable. So he could be worthy of her.

While he was away she married a man her parents liked. Her first husband beat her badly, would get drunk and assault her then call her mean names and make her sleep in the barn. She stayed because divorce wasn’t something you did at the time.

My grandpa got back, all snazzy in his uniform, and was told she’d married and where she lived. He showed up to say hello and there she was, a bloody mess. He took her to the Doctor, got her cleaned up, and convinced her to divorce him.

A year later they were married. Her ex kept showing up to harass them.

The story we’d always been told is that her ex finally got the hint and moved away.

The story my grandpa told me, in a lucid moment, was basically this:

‘I hated him for what he’d done to her. I knew he’d never leave her alone. I made sure he’d never bother her or any other woman again.’

I think my grandpa confessed to killing his wife’s ex husband.

What you have to keep in mind is that this was a very rural part of the Midwest in the 40s.”

11. “Mother knew best”

“My parents used to always joke about how ‘we picked the wrong boy at the hospital.’ I never thought much of it. A year ago (I’m now 17), they told me that when I was born in the almost exact time as a boy whose parents abandoned him. The boy was almost the same size as well. Now, you’d think that this would never happen, but I was born in China at a hospital that somehow mixed us two up. Essentially, they weren’t exactly sure if I was the son of my parents. My mom looked at the two of us and swore that I was the one, despite the nurses’ tags stating otherwise. Genetic tests were (relatively) expensive then and were refused by my mother. They didn’t care at the time since there was no parent to claim the other boy.

Now, I’m about to go off to college, and I have no intention of finding out whether or not I’m the biological son. Strange when I think about the other boy though. People always say I do look like my parents though, so I have little doubt that mother knew best.”

12. Great great great uncle

“My grandmother has all the dirty little secrets but she’s too proper to spill anything. Until this one night when she told me about my grandfather’s (her husband’s) family…Essentially they were poor, living off the streets and trying to earn money during Australia’s gold rush. Anyways, the family had too many kids and not enough money so they sold one of their kids. He would’ve been my grandfather’s great uncle I suppose. She had kept it secret all this time.”

13. Atheist Priest

“My great uncle, who became a Catholic priest at a young age, came out to his parents as an atheist while in seminary. They threatened to disown him if he ever told anyone else, or if he left the seminary (They came from a small town near Boston; I guess it would have been social suicide back then). So he stayed, became an excellent priest, and apparently never told anyone until my dad asked him for advice when he was considering the priesthood as well. He swore my dad to secrecy until he (my great-uncle) was dead, because he was afraid of the impact it would have on his congregation if they found out.

I discovered all this about a year and a half ago, when my dad was extremely drunk and ranting against religion. Completely shook my view of my great-uncle and great-grandparents – they always sounded like the model family, and my uncle was an amazingly peaceful and humble man, didn’t stop working in the community until shortly before his death three years ago. If anything I think it made me respect him more, in the end.”

Well, can you blame these people for never wanting to reveal these secrets? That is some DARK shit. Wow.

Do you have a secret you want to reveal? Maybe you can use a different name and post them in the comments? We won’t judge… much. ?

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These Jobs Probably Won’t Exist in 20 Years

The world is changing very rapidly. There are countless jobs out there that weren’t even on people’s radars 20 years ago, but what jobs today might be obsolete themselves 20 years in the future?

These 15 Redditors have some ideas!

15. What’s that job called again?

Hopefully, that job where that dude stands in the men’s room of a bar and squirts soap into your hands, and hands you a paper towel, expecting a tip. I don’t hate the guy who does that job, but I loathe the fact that that job exists and that I’m forced to choose between wasting money, looking like a jerk and stiffing the guy, or taking the loophole and not washing my hands.

14. Except for Family Video…

Video store employees.

13. Never mind the papers themselves.

It’s me again, just lonely here, thinking bout the paperboy, wondering when he’s gonna bring me some good news

12. What about Facebook, though?

Any job related to Facebook.

11. Selling things over the phone at all?

My current job may not exist in 5 years, so I am not sure that counts.

I sell reference titles over the phone, specifically print reference titles. I suspect that with the current flow of technology this company may only be around for another 3 – 5 years.

10. The sticker-slapper.

Ever watch “How’s Its Made” and there’s this complicated ass machine literally piecing together and building some kind of complicated product. There are arms grabbing, and lasers cutting, belts moving things, and just miracle after miracle of modern automation. Then there’s this dude who moves the finished product into a box and slaps a label on. And the viewer wonders why the fuck did they need a person to do that lousy step? That job doesn’t stand a chance.

9. They even charge you to do it yourself, so.

That asshole you have to wait a week for from the cable company just to plug in a box for an exorbitant fee.

Edit: everyone… tell me how much this bums you out…

rubs nipples

8. Pretty sure this is already happening.

BlackBerry tech support.

7. I like your hope and optimism.

I hope jobs in general won’t exist in 10-20 years. Wall-E.

Edit: Oh my…what have I started.

6. No one to kill you (at least on the ride home).

Taxi Drivers. Hopefully in 20 years autonomous cars will mean we can go to the pub, get drunk and drive home safely. The computerised cars might have to be programmed to understand slurred words and mistyped commands though!

5. At least you’re aware.

Mine. I am a switchboard operator, a dying breed.

4. They’re already down to like, 1 real person an exit.

Toll Collectors.

3. Do you want to trust a remote control with your life, though?

Train Engineers. My father is one and complains about the newer remote controlled trains taking jobs every day.

2. As we know them, anyway.

Weed dealers will become obsolete quite soon.

EDIT: Weed dealers as we currently know them will be obsolete. They’ll be forever more convenient and less sketchy.

1. Fingers crossed for this one to miss the list.

I’m really sad to say this – but I hope that libraries are still operational in 10-20 years. Maybe bookstores too.

I think that while everybody says, ‘no way, books will be around forever, blablabla’ there is also the fact that libraries run on public funding and there has been legislation that continuously cuts hours and shuts down libraries.

Do you have anything to add? Agree? Disagree?

Tell us what you think in the comments!

The post These Jobs Probably Won’t Exist in 20 Years appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Share What Happened to the Person Who Took Their Virginity

Let’s dig up some old dirt, shall we?

Do you remember the person who took your virginity? Do you know whatever happened to them? Heck, maybe you’re still with them…

AskReddit users shared what happened to the people who took their V Card.

Share your story in the comments if you’re brave enough!

1. Sad.

“He died in a car accident about 15 years ago. I found out when I was cyber stalking people from my past and found his obituary. It was quite sad finding that out. Just wasn’t the expected outcome of that particular internet search.”

2. Don’t do drugs.

“I saw her at a parade a while back. She had a couple of kids and looked rougher than I remembered. Meth will do that.”

3. Still in good standing.

“She’s an attorney. She gave me some advice when I wanted to adopt a few years ago. Sweet girl, and still gorgeous 20-something years later.”

4. No need to dig up the past.

“Man, haven’t seen her since she moved out and divorced me 5 years ago. I honestly have no idea what she’s up to, but I actually hope she’s found help for her mental illnesses and is generally happy.

But she can stay wherever she is, I don’t need to see her again.”

5. That’s terrible.

“She killed herself 13 years ago. She was a great person.”

6. Not a pretty picture.

“She married some military dude, and had a hard life. Last I found her on Facebook she was promoting a GoFundMe so she could get new teeth. Had recently lost everything in a house fire. Has a couple of kids.”

7. I still wonder…

“He passed away at 19 after suffering a seizure in his sleep. We’d broken up about 6 months before.

Its been 10 years, but every once in a while I still wonder who he’d be today.”

8. In the basement.

“Cheated on me, got fat, had a kid, cheated on that guy, had another kid, cheated on that guy, and now lives in her mom’s basement.”

9. Good luck.

“Single mom, 30 years old, with two kids. She seems like she’s a terrific mom and tries the best she can with limited resources. Thanks for the memories, Olivia, and good luck.”

10. Right here.

“Sitting next to me eating Spaghetti O’s out of a pyrex bowl. Not because of a lack of better food or bowls, but because he like it and the pyrex is the biggest glass bowl.”

11. Doing well.

“I ran into her on the street not too long ago. She’s engaged and seems to be doing well otherwise too. Still drop dead gorgeous as well.”

12. Oh boy…

“She married the next guy she dated. Had 2 kids and moved to Boston. He cheated on her with another dude and left her recently.”

13. Ugh!

“In jail for child abuse and recording it.”

14. It’s all good.

“We are still decent friends for the last 19 years, she recently got married to a very nice guy and they have good careers in tech. I am very happy for them.”

15. Awwwwwww.

“I see her almost every day. She’s my wife after all.”

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People Who Disappeared to Start a New Life Share Their Stories

You might think this only happens in the movies: a person realizes that in order to save themselves (or someone else) they have no choice but to disappear from their lives and begin again as someone new.

It turns out that people actually do this in real life, though, and here are 15 of their stories.

15. I need more details!

My experience is more recent. I left about a month ago.

No real responsibilities or debts and meagre savings, packed a bag one night and hit the road the next morning!

Life is good so far. I’ve met some great people, I’ve stepped way outside of my comfort zone, I’ve got a new job and (finally) a place to live, and I’ve never been happier.

There are people I miss, of course, but I know I’m doing the right thing. It’s kind of a scary time in my life right now, but I know I’ll be a happier and healthier person in the long run.

14. WHY, THOUGH.

Know I’m jumping in a bit late, but this has been pretty much my way of living for the past 10 years.

Every few years I pack up, move countries and start new.

Burner phones, changing emails, and no social network accounts.

I don’t really have a reason for it, I just enjoy being a vagabound and seeing places.

I grew up moving country to country as a child, and when I turned 16-17 it just seemed a natural way of living. I’ve hit around 150 countries so far, and lived in over 20.

I’m still young, and I work in all these places. (surf instructor, running hostels, bartender, teacher, etc.)

ok!

edit:

holy hell, this blew up a bit. I don’t even have internet at where I’m staying right now so I tend to leech it from where I work. I honestly didn’t think anybody would even see this. I’ll scroll through a bit and answer some questions if I can.

Cheers!

13. Sometimes you want to go where nobody knows your name.

When I was 17 I up and moved a few states away. Didn’t tell a single soul.

I was sick of being picked on and harrased. I had a drug problem, my friends were all dying, my mom died when I was young, and my dad left me after she died, so I was taken into foster care. After I was taken into foster care I was homeschooled, and never got the social integration that I so badly needed. I was isolated to the foster family. They refused to let me hang out with anyone, have friends, girlfriends, etc. I started acting out at like 14/15 years old, doing drugs and shit to feel like a person. My lack of social skills got me beat up and stepped over every day. I just wanted a friend though. Anyone I would hang out with would steal my money, or talk shit behind my back…this, that….I guess the teenage experience.

So one day, I decided to just leave.

I had a lot of people that knew me, I had family, not a real mom or dad, but I do have blood relatives. And…yeah….

The story is fucked up to actually.

I took some acid, had a realization that anyone I cared about was dead, and I would be too, if I didn’t destroy myself, id kill myself. So, tripping sack, I decided to grab a bag of clothes and hop on the next train out. No money, not even a wallet. Just a small duffell with a blanket and about two days worth of clothes. I snuck on the train, went 4 hours, and got off when I felt like it. I begged for bus money, and slept on the street and random strangers couches for about a year.

The rest of the story is kind of boring, just a lot of struggling. I will say, it was the best choice I ever made. I was going nowhere, and it took a damn lot of work, but I made myself into something.

I have my own place, a car made last year, I got my GED, go to college, work as an EMT, and also work at MIT. None of that would have been possible without leaving. It was refreshing. Nobody knew me. I wasn’t a failure to people up here. I wasn’t that weird kid. I wasn’t being bullied to the point of suicide. Nobody really knew my situation, well, anyone I was talking to as friends anyways. But that doesn’t matter now. People don’t matter to me. I concentrate on my own life, my own well being.

I left because I had no one. Now I realize that people aren’t worth it. They’re selfish, and out for their own well being. Most of them anyways. Now I’m content with nobody. I’m content with reaching my goals, and being the person I aim to be, on a daily basis. Someone who is there for whoever needs it, as a shoulder to cry on, a door to be opened, a person to vent to, a couch to crash on. I guess I’m rambling now. Hope at least someone gets to read my experience.

12. A fresh outlook on life.

I moved from the United States to Taiwan. And, while I will likely only be here for a couple of years, it’s amazing how much it helped. It cured the depression I never even realized I had.

EDIT: Never expected people to be interested in my story. Unfortunately I am at work on a break, so I have to be brief. But, basically, I never realized I was “depressed” in the United States. I mean, I wasn’t sad all the time. I had friends. I did well at a top tier university. None of that characterizes a depressed person, right?! But, I never felt very excited about anything. I just felt as if though I was going from box to box, looking for happiness. Wake up, get in my car. Drive to class. Leave class, go to a restaurant. Go home. Want to have some fun? Meet friends in a bar. It was all driving in a box to another box and convincing myself it all mattered. I just thought that’s what life was, and the fact that I was always sorta “meh” was what being human was.

Then, I got a grant to move to Taiwan, and I did it. I don’t really know how to explain it, but I suddenly feel like a person for the first time. There is a large, large, LARGE sense of community here. I feel like things matter. I don’t just drive from place to place, eating at identical restaurants. I realize I am perhaps being a bit cryptic here, but it just feels like things “matter” more here. Go out to eat? It’s not always going to be a chain restaurant that looks like all the other chain restaurants, due to all the building codes and ADA regulations. I might find myself in a bit of a shack, run by a family for decades, where people pour their heart and soul into the food. I know I am being general here, and I KNOW that “real” restaurants exist in the US, too. But, in general, I feel like Americans have traded variety for security. We like the security of knowing we can travel to another state and find the same 10 restaurants. We like the security of strict building codes, knowing that all the door handles are the same design in case of an emergency. And, of course, there are merits to all of this.

For example, in Taiwan, people will park all over the sidewalks, and you often find yourself dodging around parked cars when walking, into the street. As an American, I sometimes freak out and think, “WHY ARE THEY MAKING PEDESTRIANS WALK IN THE ROAD?! ASSHOLES. THIS IS A SIDEWALK! AAARGH!” And, this isn’t about sidewalks. But this draws to a larger metaphor. In America, you’ll get a ticket in a second for parking on a sidewalk, and pedestrians never have to worry about walking around cars on a sidewalk. To me, that is trading variety for security – we want to make sure every road is safe and “up to code,” and as a result, all you ever see are empty sidewalks. In Taiwan, just walking down a block can be a fascinating experience, as you never quite know what you’ll see. I worked in an un-air-conditioned building in Taiwan’s 100 degree summer, and I was sweating all the time. As an American, it bothered me so much, and I took several showers a day. Then you realize, “I’m human, it’s hot, I’m sweating… so what?” It’s that overall mindset and general ideology that “freed” me in Taiwan, and made me feel like a person again. I’d rather just live, rather than attempting to set up a utopia of safety and comfort.

So, me? Personally? Hopping on my scooter, driving through slightly-un-okay-level dangerous streets, not knowing if I can always find “that restaurant I like,” and knowing that every street will bring something completely new (good or bad)…. It changed my life, honestly.

I am pre-preemptively worried that someone will misunderstand this as a Taiwan vs. America argument, which it isn’t. If you can be as happy as I am right now in America, then more power to you. I am legitimately happy for you. But me? I can’t. I needed a change. And, it wasn’t until I made the change that I realized how badly I needed it. If you feel like you need a change, maybe you should just do it. Something like moving to the other side of the planet may seem insane and almost impossible. Well, it is. And that is exactly why you should probably be doing it.

EDIT 2: Wow, I am overwhelmed by the positive feedback here! It honestly warms my god damned soul to think that I maybe nudged even one person out of a rut, let alone dozens or more. I have been getting some negative feedback as well about my generalizations of America, which I expected. I didn’t really “plan out” my post as much as I just wrote it on the fly based on what I was feeling, so some of my examples (building codes, restaurants, etc) aren’t perfect. They were only intended to capture what I feel is the overarching ideology of Taiwanese life, but they definitely ain’t perfect. Also, I in no way “hate” America, as it made me who I am today. I attempted to explain this in my last paragraph, but I didn’t do a great job. Anyway, whether you liked my post or not, I fucking love you guys – keep on keepin’ on. And remember, though it almost always seems like there is, there rarely exists a good reason to not do something big if you think it might be just what you need.

11. People can still be toxic even if they’re related to you.

I am assuming you cut ties with your family as well. What do you think about the countless movie and TV series references to “family is the most important thing in the world” and some ideas in psychology that put your relationship with your parents above everything else? I am asking because I moved away from my family and I don’t miss them a bit, and most people think I am a monster for doing so. I wonder if we might have emotional problems in the long run.

10. Not so far, but far enough.

Faked a big move and cut ties with family and friends. I live about 20miles from my old home and kept my job. It has been 2 years and my anonymity remains intact. Happy life without the drugs, drama and abuse. Still keep in contact with my little brother, but that’s it. Everybody thinks I now live in Russia. Edit: details.

9. When you can totally reinvent yourself from scratch.

I dropped everything and left without telling anyone where I was going. I hardly packed anything, just grabbed what I needed and left the state. I go by a different name now and I have no regrets. I was in a terrible place and now I’m so much happier.

I think the only difficult thing is how to figure out who I am now. I spent so much time living for the people around me that I didn’t even know who I was. Do I even really like to bowl? Is this really how I want to dress? But I get to re-learn and re-explore myself slowly and it’s a wonderful journey.

8. No regrets is an awesome place to be.

I didn’t do anything drastic like change a name or fake a death; I merely chose to cut out the terrible people in my life. My father abused me growing up, including sexually molesting me. While coming to terms with this as a young adult, I tried to kill myself. After leaving the mental hospital he mocked me. That was when I saw the light and decided to cut him out. A year or two after that my mom decided to a) uninvite me to christmas, and b) kicked me out the day before the holiday when she realized i didn’t intend to go. i left, she changed the locks. i decided to leave totally, and merely left town, blocking everyone there on my fb (didn’t want my wherabouts getting back to my family.) i live within an hour’s distance, never had a run in since. nor egrets.

7. Leave the toxic people behind.

I didn’t fake my death to start over, I just moved. Unless you’ve done something illegal or owe a shitton of money, just moving across the country will be drastic enough to ensure that 90% of people you’d want to avoid never contact you again.

A few months ago, I threw my hands in the air, said “Fuck it,” and moved several states away. The fresh start is awesome, and I’m so much happier now. I have just about everything I’ve ever wanted here, and I love the fact that I don’t have to relive ancient history every time I pass a landmark that reminds me of something.

Just cut ties with whoever is causing you grief, regardless of who they are or what their impact on your life is. Excise the tumor, and then pick up and go. Don’t ever let them back in, either…because cancer spreads.

EDIT: Wow, this blew up overnight. I’m more than happy to answer any questions that anybody has. And also, thank ye kindly strangers for the gold.

6. Very good advice.

I have an uncle who attempted suicide four times and failed. For his fifth, people were pleading with him to try anything else. I went to a park with him and smoked a joint and he told me he was planning on killing himself again. We sat in silence and jokingly, I suggested he just start over. If his life was bad enough to end, then he could end his life that he’s living and just starting a new one, in maybe Arizona or some far away shit.

Two months later I heard he left out of state and got a new phone and maybe a new name. I found an M&M container with a thank you note and three perfect joints a couple weeks after that.

I’m sure he’s doing ok.

5. This honestly sounds like a dream.

My story is definitely less extreme than some on here, but it is probably more realistic for those of you considering a big change. And I didn’t have to completely restart my life.

I got married about 15 years ago, and was on track for medical school. We were excited about our prospects but we wanted our lives to be an adventure. The expectation was that we would move to Boston and work 80 hours a week. It would have given us both strong careers, but…

So I went to medical school in Ireland. She got a job in Dublin. I worked hard through medical school, but our weekends were in Paris, Rome, Budapest, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice, Porto, Tunis, Athens, Oslo, Berlin, and so many more. We could NEVER have afforded even two of these trips from the States, but from Dublin they were dirt cheap. Our target airfare was £15 each way.

We lost a lot of friends in those 6 years but not the good ones. And goddamn it was an adventure.

4. Sometimes you just need a fresh start.

I didn’t have to fake my death, but I was an active heroin addict in my old life so I guess it’s possible that people think I’m dead or in jail. Shit I got lucky not to be.

When I got clean I also moved a few hundred miles and cut ties with everyone except my family. It’s much easier to stay clean living somewhere without a ton of history of drug use, no reminders. I also am in a new college.

Overall it’s pretty good; I have a quiet and productive life, not much socially but I have people I can call if I feel the urge to not be alone. Loneliness is an issue but I try to remember that it’s better than living like I used to and isolating myself with erratic behavior.

So overall I’m pretty content with the whole “fresh start” deal.

3. Sometimes rearview mirrors are no good.

I don’t plan to fake my death or anything, but i am planning a move in the coming weeks. I have a bit of cash saved up and I’m actively seeking employment at the new location. Once I have a few nibbles there I’m buying a one way bus ticket and I’m not looking back. 400 miles away and no former friends or family members to bother me. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Edited to add:

For those of you who are curious I have moved. I had about $3500 in the bank to spend. I posted an ad on craigslist, believe it or not, seeking temporary housing and was contacted by a local who agreed to let me stay for a couple of weeks just as long as I paid the agreed on amount up front. Once I had that ironed out after emails and phone calls I packed a bag with the stuff I wanted to take and I walked to the bus station. I went in blind but I knew that if worse came to worse I could find someplace for a couple of days if everything fell through.

My original estimation was incorrect, my new home ended up being 600 miles away from my old home. I arrived, paid my rent for the agreed upon two weeks, and visited four other longer term places for rent.

As of right now I am away from my old life, I have a longer term place to live, my rent has been paid for two more months, and I have a couple of job prospects. I am still unemployed, but the only thing I have to pay for in the coming months is food and I have enough for that.

2. Fill up your own clean slate.

I’m about to do this, I live in a fairly small city in Southern California, and I’m constantly running into people I didn’t want to see again from high school, ex-girlfriends, girls I regret never asking out, douchenozzles that are more successful than me, people younger than me having babies, etc. and friends who are just stuck,

Basically reminders of things I don’t want to be reminded of, and things like getting stuck in life and never progressing. Also high school, this is a big high school town, you can’t fucking escape it.

So I’m finishing up my associates at community college and using that as an excuse to transfer to a college in Hawaii. I have no family there, no friends, no acquaintances. Nothing. I am really looking forward to the clean slate.

1. Whatever keeps you alive.

My brother in law did this, essentially. He tried twice to kill himself, and was just living day to day on meds, trying not to feels.

There was a girl in high school who he had a crush on, but she moved to Texas(we live in Florida.) About a year she contacted him on facebook, and they started talking, and it really seemed to help him.

So, one day, we get a call from his work asking where he was(they knew he had problems before), so we start freaking out. Luckily he answered the first time we tried to call him. He had been on the road for about 6 hours already heading out there to see her. He initially was just gonna see her for a week or so and come back, but his engine died when he got out there, so he decided to stay. 5 months later, and they are together, hes slowly getting off his meds, and hes happy.

I’m fascinated and could read these all day!

I’m going to assume nothing like this has ever happened to you, but if it has, we need details!

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12 Mindbenders That Might Just Mess With Your Sense of Reality

The simple definition of a paradox is this: a statement that contradicts itself or a situation which seems to defy logic.

These are all around us every day, and range from something mundane like saying “I always lie” and the complexities surrounding the idea of time travel.

If you’re into reading things that really bend your brain, I present these 12 paradoxes, designed to do just that.

12. When did it cease to be?

The Ship of Theseus always kind of fucked me. So, there’s this Greek dude called Theseus, and he’s on a very long boat trip home. His ship needs repair, they stop, replace a few rotten boards, and continue. Due to the particularily strenuous nature of this very long trip, several more of these stops for repairs are made, until, by the very end, not a single board from the original vessel remains.

Is this still the same vessel? If not, when did it cease to be?

11. Simple but not.

Pinocchio says “My nose will grow after I finish this sentence”

Does it?

10. The more traffic, the more traffic. Or something.

Braess’ paradox.

From wiki “the observation that adding one or more roads to a road network can end up impeding overall traffic flow through it. The paradox was postulated in 1968 by German mathematician Dietrich Braess, who noticed that adding a road to a particular congested road traffic network would increase overall journey time.”

9. Just stop it, people.

That “this page is intentionally left blank” page.

The page isn’t even blank anymore!

8. Triple make you crazy.

The UK ‘triple lock’ that people moving to the UK experience:

Need proof of address and photographic ID to open a bank account

Need a bank account and photographic ID to rent a place

Need a bank account and an address to get sent your photographic ID

7. The Legend of Zelda.

What about the song of storms from the legend of Zelda?

In the legend of Zelda ocarina of Time, you travel though time between child and adult by using the master sword, and doing so you can come back to certain areas to get different items from both times.

Well one song the you learn is called the song of storms and you learn it by going to the adult time and talk to a guy in a windmill. He tells you about a kid that came in 7 years ago and played a strange song and messed up the windmill and teaches it to you. After learning the song you can now go back to being a child and go to the guy in the windmill and play the song to him, despite not knowing it before as a child.

So questions are where did the song come from and who taught who the song? Did the windmill guy teach it to link or did link teach it to the windmill guy?

6. And around and around forever.

Jim is my enemy.

But it turns out that Jim is also his own worst enemy.

And the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

So, Jim is actually my friend.

But…because he is his own worst enemy, the enemy of my friend is my enemy.

So, actually Jim is my enemy.

But…

5. Where to put the hooks?

So i know this is just a silly thing but…..

At my old work, my department was food service. In our prep room, you had to always wear an apron. Always, no exceptions.

When leaving the preproom, you had to take your apron off to prevent cross contamination.

The bosses were trying to figure out where to put the hooks. Inside in the back of the door, or outside on the wall.

4. Definitely hard to explain.

The Banach Tarski paradox is one hell of a mind fuck.

Its basically taking something, and rearranging it to form another exact copy of itself while still having the complete original. Like taking a sphere, which has infinite points on it and drawing line from every “point” on its surface to the center, or the core of the sphere. Then you seperate the lines from the sphere, but because there is infinite points you now have an exact copy of the original sphere.

Its kind of hard to explain here so just watch the Vsauce video on it for a more in depth explanation.

3. The coastline is always growing…or something.

The coastline paradox.

The more accurately you measure a coastline, the longer it gets… to infinity.

2. But you do, in fact, reach the door.

One of my favorites is Xeno’s Paradox.

In order to leave my apartment, just for example, I have to walk half way to my front door. Then I have to walk half the remaining distance. Then half that distance, ad infinitum. In theory, I should never be able to reach the door.

Now I love this paradox, because we’ve actually solved it. It was a lively, well-discussed debate for millennia. At least a few early thinkers were convinced that motion was an illusion because of it!

It was so persuasive an argument that people doubted their senses!

Then Leibniz (and/or Newton) developed calculus and we realized that infinite sums can have finite solutions.

Paradox resolved.

It makes me wonder what “calculus” we are missing to resolve some of these others.

EDIT: A lot more people have strong opinions about Zeno’s Paradox than I thought. To address common comments:

1.) Yes, it’s Zeno, not ‘Xeno’. Blame autocorrect and my own fraught relationship with homophones.

2.) Yes there are three of them.

3.) If you’re getting hung up on the walking example, think of an arrow being shot at a fleeing target. First the arrow has to get to where the target was. But at that point, the target has moved. So the arrow has to cover that new distance. But by then, the target has moved again, etc. So the arrow gets infinitesimally closer to the target, but doesn’t ever reach it.

4.) Okay, you think you could have solved it if you were living in ancient Greece. I profoundly regret that you weren’t born back then to catapult our understanding two millenia into the future.

5.) Yes, I agree Diogenes was a badass.

I hope this covers everything.

1. Just take a shot and pick a box.

Newcomb’s Paradox:

There are two boxes, A and B. A contains either $1,000 or $0 and B contains $100. Box A is opaque, so you can’t see inside, Box B is clear, so you can see for sure that there is $100 in it.

Your options is to choose both boxes, or to choose only Box A.

There is an entity called “The Predictor”, which determines whether or not the $1,000 will be in Box A. How he chooses this is by predicting whether or not you will choose both boxes, or just Box A. If the Predictor predicts that you will “two box”, he will leave Box A empty. If he predicts that you will “one box”, he will put the $1,000 in Box A. He is accurate “an overwhelming amount of the time”, but not 100%. At the time of your decision, the contents of Box A (i.e. whether or not there is anything in it) are fixed, and nothing you do at that point will change whether or not there is anything in the box.

It is a paradox of decision theory that rests on two principles of rational choice. According to the principle of strategic dominance:

There are only two possibilities, and you don’t know which one holds:

Box A is empty: Therefore you should choose both boxes, to get $100 as opposed to $0.

Box A is full: Therefore you should choose both boxes, to get $1,100 as opposed to just $1,000.

Therefore, you should always choose both boxes, since under every possible scenario, this results in more money.

BUT:

According to the principle of expected value:

Choosing one box is superior because you have a statistically higher chance of getting more money. Most of the people who have gone before you who have chosen one box have gotten $1,000, and most that have chosen both boxes have gotten only $100. Therefore, if you analyze the problem statistically, or in terms of which decision has the higher probability of resulting in a higher outcome, you should choose only one box. Imagine one billion people going before you, and you actually seeing so many of them have this outcome. Any outliers became insignificant.

In terms of strategic dominance, two-boxing is always superior to one-boxing because no matter what is in Box A, two-boxing results in more money. One-boxing, on the other hand, has a demonstrably higher probability of resulting in a larger amount of money. Both of these choices represent fundamental principles of rational choice. There are two rival theories, Causal Decision Theory (which supports strategic dominance) and Evidential Decision Theory (which supports expected utility). It is pretty arcane but one of the most difficult paradoxes in contemporary philosophy.

Robert Nozick summed it up well: “To almost everyone, it is perfectly clear and obvious what should be done. The difficulty is that these people seem to divide almost evenly on the problem, with large numbers thinking that the opposing half is just being silly.”

EDIT: I made some edits…to make it clearer.

EDIT: There are also an offshoot of Newcomb’s Paradoxes called medical Newcomb’s Problems. I’ve been in a situation like this before, I’ll describe it:

I went on an antidepressant, and there’s a history of manic depression in my family. My psychiatrist told me that for some people, antidepressants bring out their manic phase, and they find out they have manic depression. They already did have manic depression, so it doesn’t cause it, it just reveals it. She told me to watch out for any impulsive decisions I making, as that can be a sign of a manic phase.

I was in line at a convenience store and thought: should I buy a black and mild? I don’t really smoke, but for some reason it seemed appealing. Then I realized, that seems like an impulsive decision. But, if it is an impulsive decision, and I go through with it, and do indeed have manic depression, then I should just do it anyways. After all, it’s not making me have manic depression, it’s simply revealing something to me that I already had. On the other hand, if I don’t do it, then I have no evidence that I have manic depression, meaning that there truly is less evidence, and therefore I have no reason to believe that I have manic depression.

Expected utility = don’t buy the black & mild Strategic dominance = buy the black & mild

These situations aren’t quite as easy to see, but they’re interesting anyways.

I’m doing quite well now and all indication is that I do not have manic depression.

I’m off to take a nap to recover.

Do you have a favorite paradox? If it’s not here, please leave it in the comments!

Yes, we’re asking you to mess with our head once again. Because that’s how we roll.

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A Guys Asked If He Was Wrong for Fat-Shaming His Teen Daughter on Her Birthday

I think I know my answer to this question that someone asked on Reddit, but I’ll let you make up your own mind.

A father took to Reddit’s “Am I the Asshole” page to ask about how he treated his teenage daughter about her weight. Read the man’s words and then decide how you feel about this situation.

sight

Here is the full post from Reddit:

“This happened a few months ago. I just learned about this subreddit and thought this would be a good place to ask about a point of contention in the family.

My daughter is overweight. Not anything too drastic, but she is around 5’4 and 155 pounds. So she could stand to lose a few pounds. I’ve been concerned about her weight for a long time. None of it has been helped by my also-overweight, enabling wife.

On her 19th birthday, in August, we went on a hike in the state forest. She complained about it literally the entire time. She didn’t like that it was hot, she didn’t like the incline, she didn’t like the mosquitoes. I still encouraged her and pushed on, I think she was satisfied with having exercised at the end of it.

Hiking

But, while we were driving back home, she knew that we would be driving past a Dunkin Donuts. She wanted me to stop so she could get herself a “birthday donut.” I said no. She was upset about it, saying she just wanted a donut and she’d just done this long hike to please me on her birthday. I argued calmly that she didn’t want to undo all the work of the hike by getting a donut. She said the one she wanted is 350 calories (which I doubt is true) and would fit into her day. I pointed out she’d probably be eating cake later. We didn’t stop and she sulked about it on the whole ride back. When we got home, she told her mother, who of course sided with her and went on a rant about how our daughter’s birthday shouldn’t be a time I’m preaching healthy eating.

Donuts

I am trying to protect her health at every turn, when she spends most of her free time with her mother. Am I really the asshole for not wanting to stop and get her a fatty donut after a nice hike?”

People weighed in on the situation and it was pretty clear that basically NO ONE was on this guy’s side.

“You’ve got to be fuckin kidding my man. On her birthday, you forced your daughter into an activity I suspect you knew she would not enjoy, and then denied her a 75 cent treat. Beyond that, you didn’t even pretend you took the hike for time together, or– God forbid– her enjoyment; you made it clear that your focus for this event was getting her to exercise. You’re a huge asshole.”

Angry Man

“This is completely the wrong way to go about helping someone lose weight.. One hike is not going to make a difference in the larger picture of health, but this memory is going to be burned into her brain. Health and weightloss is an ongoing lifestyle change and one doughnut has ZERO impact on her weight.

As someone who spent their teens slightly overweight, it was my relationship WITH food that was the problem, I was an emotional over eater, no matter how much I wanted to slim down. My parents withholding something like a doughnut only drove me to eat in secret and form unhealthy habits. such as binge eating. For teenage girls, their relationship with their body easily becomes a societal reflection of their self worth.

You say she “sulked” in the car home, she was probably filled with lots of shame and self hatred that she was fighting with her dad who clearly views her as fat. If you really want to help your daughter, which you seem to care about, you need to change your tactics.

Depriving her of one doughnut is not the solution, working on life long healthy patterns is. For me, I dropped weight in university when I found an activity I liked to do with friends and learning to cook my own food, so that when I wanted a something tasty, I could make something myself rather than grabbing and downing a bag of chips. You’re not wrong to want your daughter to be healthy, but weightloss is as much about mental health as physical.”

What do you think about this situation? Does the dad have a point or is he WAY off base?

Let us know in the comments!

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History Buffs Share What They Believe Are the Greatest Real-Life Plot Twists in History

This is gonna be fun…

Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it, of course, and so if you’re someone who likes to see everything coming, you’re going to want to be up on the unbelievable, real life twists and turns.

I’m not promising that studying the past can help you predict the future, but – hey. It can’t hurt.

15. He must have been a lawyer in a future life.

It’s definitely Darius the Great’s ascension to the throne of Persia. Basically, he was caught literally red handed standing over his dead predecessor with a knife.

“Oh shit,” thought Darius.

“Oh shit!” said the magi. “Call the guards, this guy just murdered the emperor!”

“Whoa whoa guys, listen,” interrupted Darius. “I know what this looks like, but it’s not what it looks like. Not only did I NOT kill the emperor, but I can tell you who DID kill him. It was this dead motherfucker right here, who I realize looks quite a bit like the emperor but what you need to understand here is that he was actually a shapeshifting wizard, right? So he killed the king and pod-peopled his way to the throne, and all you guys are just lucky that you had someone like me here to avenge the rightful ruler, who I totally miss dearly.”

The magi consulted, and with a chorus of “why would someone lie about something like that?” They unanimously decided to raise Darius the wizard slayer to the throne of Persia.

14. A great do-over.

On June 28th, 1914, Gavrilo Princip’s group “The Black Hand” fucked up the first time when it came time to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. His colleague was to throw a grenade under the carriage as the Archduke and his wife passed over. The grenade delayed and blew up as the next car came by. He panicked, swallowed a cyanide pill, and jumped in a nearby river. Except the cyanide pill just made him vomit, and the river was 6″ deep, so he was caught pretty easily.

Gavrilo Princip was pretty damn dejected and went to get some food at a local restaurant at this time. After the assassination attempt, Archduke Franz Ferdinand told his driver to head to the hospital where he and his wife could visit those injured from the failed plot on his life. Cars hadn’t been around for too long, so when the driver got lost and tried to reverse the car, it stalled…right in front of the restaurant where Princip was finishing lunch. He walked outside, saw the Archduke standing there, and fired into his neck.

The most revolutionary event of the 20th century was a do-over.

13. Maybe we should have seen this one coming.

I’m going to simply take the answer /u/beardedmessenger gave 10 months ago to the same question:

“After World War 1, France dictated the terms of armistice to the Germans. A mere 20 years later, after Germany had just got done with powering through the french in 6 weeks, Hitler set up a meeting in the same train car, in the exact same place as the armistice was signed after World War I. Except this time, he was making the terms for the armistice to the French. ”

And, as /u/hellsheep added:

“and, even better, a few years later the Germans blew the train up while retreating so they wouldn’t have to suffer the humiliation of signing another armistice in the exact same train car.”

12. This is almost too strange to be true…but it is.

At the start of the Cold War, Henry Murray developed a personality profiling test to crack soviet spies with psychological warfare and select which US spies are ready to be sent out into the field. As part of Project MKUltra, he began experimenting on Harvard sophomores. He set one student as the control, after he proved to be a completely predictable conformist, and named him “Lawful”.

Long story short, the latter half of the experiment involved having the student prepare an essay on his core beliefs as a person for a friendly debate. Instead, Murray had an aggressive interrogator come in and basically tear his beliefs to pieces, mocking everything he stood for, and systematically picking apart every line in the essay to see what it took to get him to react. But he didn’t, it just broke him, made him into a mess of a person and left him having to pull his whole life back together again. He graduated, but then turned in his degree only a couple years later, and moved to the woods where he lived for decades.

In all that time, he kept writing his essay. And slowly, he became so sure of his beliefs, so convinced that they were right, that he thought that if the nation didn’t read it, we would be irreparably lost as a society. So, he set out to make sure that everyone heard what he had to say, and sure enough, Lawful’s “Industrial Society and its Future” has become one of the most well known essays written in the last century. In fact, you’ve probably read some of it. Although, you probably know it better as The Unabomber Manifesto.

Edit: Thank you for the gold.

11. WHO’S LATE NOW?

Backstory:

There was a samurai in Japan, circa 1600(?), named Miyamoto Musashi, who was frequently late to his duels. He was very skilled and world renowned as one of the most talented samurai to have ever lived.

One day, he decided to challenge the leader of the Yoshioka School, Seijuro to a duel. Seijuro agreed, and as always, Musashi came late. He struck Seijuro with a single blow, crippling his arm and knocking him out. Seijuro decided to pass ownership of the school down to Denshichirō, who immediately challenged Musashi back for revenge. Again, Musashi arrived late, disarmed and promptly defeated Denshichirō.

Here is where the plot twist comes in to play. The head of the Yoshioka school is now the 12 year old son of Denshichirō, Matashichiro. He (and his entire force of archers, musketeers, and swordsman) challenged Musashi to a final duel. Musashi decides that this time he is to arrive EARLY and hide nearby! Fantastic! So when Matashichiro and his army come marching by to the place where the duel is to occur, expecting a tardy Musashi as always. He springs from his hiding spot, and runs to Matashichiro, completely demolishing this 12 year old kid. He then escapes from the force by drawing his second sword.

TL;DR Samurai defeats an entire lineage of a martial arts school by changing from his usual routine of showing up late.

Edit: Circa 1600 and his name was Miyamoto Musashi, for those wondering.

Edit 2: Words

Edit 3: More words.

10. He beat the game twice.

Yi Sun-Sin. Pretty much all of this guy’s life was an epic twist. He joined the Korean military back in the 1500s when they were being invaded by Japan. He became a top commander and helped save his nation from being conquered by the Japanese. Then his jealous rivals had him framed, tortured, and imprisoned. When he was released from prison he re-enlisted in the military at the lowest rank, then was promoted all the way back up to commander and once again saved his nation from defeat against impossible odds.

Edit: fixed for accuracy.

9. What are the odds?

The real life story of Squanto.

Squanto (or Tisquantum) was captured by early explorers around 1590 and taken to Europe as a slave. He escaped and spent the next 20 years or so earning enough money to get passage back to the New World.

When he finally gets back to his home village he finds that just about every single American Indian on the East Coast has either died of disease or fled west. His village is abandoned.

He lives a pretty solitary life for a year or so until he comes across these starving Englishmen trying to make a colony in Plymouth. Since Squanto can speak English he is able to help the Pilgrims and shows them how to grow native crops in his family’s abandoned fields.

Thus Thanksgiving….

The odds of a struggling colony landing in an almost completely depopulated land (disease ravaged just 2 years before landing) and also finding a Native who speaks English… astronomical.

8. At least he was right about it being painless and humane.

When King Louis XVI suggested the guillotine be triangular shaped, then the people used it to kill him.

7. Huh. Wonder why nobody stopped him.

That a small time, strip club owner can walk into the Dallas police station and shoot the man who shot the POTUS 3 three days earlier in front of the entire police force.

Edit: grammar

6. The Vikings always found a way to win.

The English fought off a Viking invasion only to be invaded from the South by Normandy.

Plot twist: Normandy was under the rule of the descendants of vikings. So the vikings still conquered them.

5. France just couldn’t shake him.

Napoleon escaping Elba and sweeping back into brief power only to meet his Waterloo was a nice series of twists and turns.

4. They were only making things worse.

During the 14th century, cats were killed en masse due to the belief that cats were in league with the devil and the cause of the Black Death. If the cats had remained alive to keep rodent populations down (the hosts of the fleas that were the actual cause), the plague would have had much less of an impact.

Edit: For everyone saying cats would have fleas: Yes, and they would carry/transmit the disease as well, but due to predator to prey ratio (roughly 1:50 for cats), the density of the disease vector would be substantially reduced. Much like reducing the density of a forest can slow or stop the spread of fire, lowering the density of a disease vector can slow or stop the spread of said disease. It would have still existed but not in the same severity.

3. Let’s just have a little chat.

Attila the Hun turning back from his conquests after talking with Pope Leo I.

2. Spy stories never disappoint.

A man who was seriously considered to be the future leader of MI-6 (the British equivalent of the CIA) during the cold war with the Soviet Union was actually a highly effective spy for the USSR. If one of his mentally unstable friends hadn’t defected to the USSR, casting suspicion on him, he may have become head of MI-6. Name was Kim Philby, and he eventually defected to the USSR.

Another one of his friends from uni ended up as the royal art curator for the Queen, and was highly respected in academic circles for art analysis and he too was a highly placed spy. This was kept under wraps until Thatcher “outed” him in the early 80s

1. I’m not sure that was how they hoped it would work.

The treaty of Versailles. Ends the the worst war known to man at the time, but sparks a Second World War, set up the modern day boundaries of the Middle East with no cultural considerations, and Woodrow Wilson denied Vietnam self-determination from France in order to get the treaty passed, eventually sparking the Vietnam war. The treaty that was expose to end all wars, sparked many of the current problems today.

History is pretty hilarious and interesting when you find the right stories!

Do you have a favorite straight-out-of-the-history-books tale? Share it with us in the comments!

The post History Buffs Share What They Believe Are the Greatest Real-Life Plot Twists in History appeared first on UberFacts.

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15 People Share Small Things You Can Do Today to Start Making a Difference in Your Life

Change can seem very overwhelming, especially when we’re talking about big lifestyle changes.

That’s why this article from AskReddit is so helpful. People offered up small tips that you might want to consider to start improving your life.

Baby steps!

1. Flossing is important.

“Oral hygiene. Gotta be more consistent when it comes to flossing.”

2. Just do it.

“Start doing the “Rule of 5″ If it takes less than 5 minutes to do a task when you see something, and you’re not already mid task, just get it done. You’ll get your chore list cracked out a lot faster if you just clean the counters as you go around the house doing other stuff.”

3. Just a little bit.

“Do something a little bit.

Work out a little bit, so you can be just a bit stronger.

Eat a little more healthy, so you can be a bit healthier.

Always improve on something at least a little bit every day, and in the long run, you’ll be doing great.”

4. Always improving.

“Be actively kind to yourself. What did you do today that was great? Cherish it.

On the other hand, when you’re good at being kind to you(!), take the next step: what did you do today that you want to do differently tomorrow/next time?”

5. Set your goals.

“Start thinking in long-term (say, five years), medium-term (say, a month to six months) and short-term strategies (say, one day to a week).

You can break the long-term plan down into medium-term plans, and the medium-term plans into short-term plans. What do you need to be doing today to get you to where you want to be next week? Next month? Next year? Once you’ve got that in mind — and you get into the habit of taking manageable bites out of your life goals — it becomes a lot easier to achieve what you want.

The advice I always give relates to writing a novel. A novel is 90,000 words, give or take. If you write 250 words a day, every day, you’ll have the first draft of that book you’ve had rattling around inside your head on paper by the end of 2020. If that seems daunting… well, this comment is 210 words long. It took me less than five minutes to type up, and I’m only, what, forty words away from being on target? How many Reddit comments do you write in a day? How many Facebook updates? How many tweets?

A little amount of sustained effort is (usually) the best way to get where you want to be.”

6. Take a walk.

“Go for a walk, even just a short one. I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome a few years ago and I could barely get out of bed but I forced myself to walk- first to my mailbox, then the end of my street and beyond. It may not seem like much but I promise it can make a huge difference.”

7. Clean it up.

“Donating/throwing out/selling old stuff you no longer use. Also, cleaning out your fridge.”

8. Wake up fresh.

“Do your dishes before you go to bed. Waking up with a clean kitchen is a great feeling.”

9. All in your head.

“Be aware of the narratives we make up in our heads that only cause distress or anger.

An example of what I mean: “My friend hasn’t texted me for 3 days, she must be growing tired of our friendship!” More likely is that your friend is simply busy.”

10. All good tips.

“Allocate time more directly to maintenance of my body and home:

I lost 100 lbs this year. All due to diet. I could be a lot healthier if I added 30 minutes of exercise.

Then there’s my house, after I lost my wife I had a lot of trouble motivating myself to clean and now certain rooms are really needing it. If I could allocate even just an hour a day to it I would eventually be able to get back to regular maintenance rather than feeling helpless every time I open the door to one of those rooms.

Lastly, reading. I desperately want to get back into it and I’ve succeeded a couple times and loved it. But college broke my spirit of habitual reading and I’m not sure how to get it back.”

11. One piece at a time.

“If you’re sitting on a couch, desk chair, or lying down, and you get up to go to the bathroom or kitchen, take something with you. The 2 empty water bottles near your bedside, or the dirty dish on your coffee table. Knock out 2 birds with one stone.”

12. No more soda.

“Drink more water. Less soda.”

13. Very important.

“Stretch.”

14. Nobody’s perfect!

“Realizing you don’t have to be perfect is a good first step. People get shit wrong, we’re fallible!

Also I cannot stress enough how good books are for your brain. Expands your vocabulary, encourages imagination and creative thinking and even if you have problems with reading words, for example if you’re dyslexic, audio books are a thing and for the most part they’re just as good and effective.”

15. Start MOVING.

“Get the fuck out of bed. Stop snoozing. Stop laying there. Just get up, make your bed if that’s your thing, and have a big glass of water. Then move. Yoga, a walk, 20 jumping jacks. Anything. Just move a little bit.”

The post 15 People Share Small Things You Can Do Today to Start Making a Difference in Your Life appeared first on UberFacts.

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Teachers Share Their Worst Helicopter Parent Experiences

Helicopter parents are often criticized for being overprotective, getting involved in older children’s careers, and even giving teachers a hard time.

A Reddit thread asks teachers about their worst experiences with helicopter parents, and they truly delivered. Here are some of the best worst stories we could find.

10. Power to the Parents

This is pretty scary.

“I had 3 kids who were caught turning in the same paper and after giving them zeros for the assignment they got their parents to form a witch hunt. One of the parents rallied all the other parents in the class who all came in to hold a meeting about me and how I teach, even though none of them have been in my class or have talked with me personally. This is a highly advanced class and the LOWEST grade is a C which is really amazing. I’m actually super proud of all of them. Anyway, parents got the administration to have me allow them to redo the paper (essentially showing that I have zero authority for grades or to uphold high standards) AND I now must be extra evaluated because of the things these parents say I do in my class. Meanwhile I still have to teach these kids and act as a professional toward them, which I will. This behavior is unacceptable as a parent.”

9. Daily Email Updates

No fun at all.

“I had a student a few years ago whose mom would email all his teachers every single day wanting to know what we had done in class (we have websites with class calendars on them). It got so bad that the school eventually told her that she could only email once a week.

Later that year, the student turned in a research paper, and the first paragraph had been stolen word for word from a website. I printed out the web page, gave the kid a zero, and wrote a referral for cheating.

Hours later, the mom emails me furious that I would accuse her son of cheating. I explained the situation, and she told me “oh, it wasn’t his fault! He had been too busy to type it, so I did it for him. I wanted to spruce up the intro a little bit, so I added that little extra bit. I guess I forgot to add the source”

Seems legit…”

8. Killjoy for Everyone

The entitlement is strong here!

“The 8th graders at my middle school used to take a trip to a theme park or something every year, but you weren’t allowed to go if you were failing any of your classes. Well, some kid’s mom called and whined that her kid couldn’t go (because he was failing) and it was discriminatory towards him and ended up getting the trip canceled for everyone.

Edit: For those that say the school was being unfair for keeping someone back who was failing. The end of the year trip was the ONLY field trip that they would keep kids home on for failing and we knew upfront that we were expected to do well to get to go. This kid just didn’t give a shit about school. He skipped a lot, he was constantly in trouble for acting out, and in one class that I had with him we were getting ready to take a test and he said “Fuck this”, tore it up and walked out.

His mom should have been more focused on getting him help rather than ruining things for the kids who did try.”

7. Too Early for This

In second grade?

“Teaching 2nd grade, we took a field trip to our district’s vocational school so the kids could get a sense for the wide array of career choices available. One parent would not allow her daughter to attend because she was so afraid her daughter might take a liking to one of the non-collegiate career tracks (horticulture, culinary arts, etc.) and ruin her predestined path to medical school. Second. Grade.”

6. Mom Moved In

For an entire semester!

“When first visiting colleges, one of the stories our tour guide told us was of how this kid’s mom moved in as his room mate…for an entire semester.“

5. This Parent Had a Theater Fixation

Too bad for the child in this scenario!

“When I was in high school the director of the musicals always cast her daughter as the lead in every play even though she was awful. I challenged her on it when I was elected vice president of the club, which was a student vote she had no control of, and I was never cast in a show again. Flash forward to this girl getting accepted to college, the mom applies for a teaching job in the theater department of the school she’s attending.”

4. Competitive Much?

It was supposed to be a fun activity, but…

“I gave my students a fun Halloween activity that was basically a color by number on a hundreds chart. If they followed the directions, it turned out to be a monster. I hung them up for parents to see and one of the moms saw her daughters paper and was so disappointed and told me, “she can color better than that, you just have to push her.” She’s 5 and it was supposed to be fun.”

3. Trespassing Parent

One parent even picked a lock!

“I had a parent sneak into my classroom during my lunch period and erase his son’s name from the “sad face list” on the board, claiming that he “got a feeling” while he was at work that his son was being mistreated at school. He could only believe that I had wrongfully accused his son of something, because his son was an angel. He picked the lock to come in and “defend” his son!”

2. One Parent Wanted a TA to Break the Law

Thankfully the TA was able to solve this.

“As a college TA, I had one parent come in and demand that he see his sons grades(yup…asian…son about 19?). I told him about FERPA laws and that I indeed had no access to grades to begin with. He tried going above my head and ended up getting booted off campus since he harassed all the professors his son had classes with.”

1A. A Bonus Story

This is from a working adult.

“One time my assistant’s mother called me to say that her son had overslept, and he would be late to work. Homeboy is 27 years old, and does not live at home any more. WTF kind of person would rather call his mother than his own manager to say he’ll be late?”

1B. A Bonus Story 2

I taught ESL to a bunch of high schoolers, many of which were at an SAT level. There was this one kid who was incredibly fluent and would write wonderful essays in my class.

However, his mother wasn’t satisfied. She forced him to write a 10000 word essay every single day. Now, she had never learned a foreign language, didn’t speak English, I don’t think she even graduated from college. But she would (through her son and other translators) give me an earful on how I was being too easy on the students because I wasn’t making them do 4 hours of homework a night.

And this poor kid… this unfortunate, 14 year-old bastard who was fluent in two languages and was ready to take the SATs in a language not his own ended up getting worse and worse at writing. He would repeat things again and again just to get the word count, because his mother would check the essays every night. (well, she’d check the numbers. She wouldn’t be able to read the paper.) He would lie and make up stories, interjecting them at weird places. He did ABSOLUTELY MISERABLY in his exams because he wouldn’t take my advice to “stop writing when you’ve run out of things to say”.

These are some wild stories! Do they make you more appreciative of what teachers put up with? Feel free to answer that question or share another story in the comments section.

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