Category: Society & Laws

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15 Things About America That Other People Around the World Think Are Really Weird

We feel like we live in such an interconnected world and walls and barriers have been broken down across cultures, but we still have a lot of differences with our fellow humans around the world.

Bottom line: a lot of people think some of the things we Americans do are downright weird. And they’re not shy about letting us know, apparently.

1. Rockmelon? What?

2. That’s weird

3. You better believe it

4. We’re…okay

5. For now…

6. Don’t mess with our Cheetos

7. Uncomfortable

8. Pregaming!

9. The only way to go!

10. Some do

11. Confusion

12. Uh oh

13. USA! USA! USA!

14. Oh, it’s true!

15. Have you tried it, friend?

Okay, maybe we are kind of weird…

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This Twitter Account Hilariously Mocks the Absurdity of Modern Technology

I’m all for modern technology, but sometimes it feels like it’s kind of out of hand.

We all think we’re so enlightened and our lives are so advanced, but maybe we’re getting dumber? And maybe we don’t really need all of this stuff after all?

Check out some hilarious (and accurate) examples from the “Internet of Sh*t” Twitter account.

1. Oops

2. Patronizing

3. Close the door!

4. Thanks a lot, Roomba

5. In distress

6. What a time to be alive

7. WRONG

8. It’s in your best interest

9. Hacked

10. Love it!

11. Very helpful

12. Time to start yelling

13. No way

14. What year is it, again?

15. That’s enough

Can we go back to the Stone Age yet?

The post This Twitter Account Hilariously Mocks the Absurdity of Modern Technology appeared first on UberFacts.

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These Photos Show How Polluted America Was Before the EPA Cleaned It up

It’s difficult to imagine that there was a time when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) didn’t exist in the United States, but it actually wasn’t until 1970 that President Richard Nixon signed the order to create the agency.

From 1971 until 1977, the EPA hired freelance photographers to document just how bad the environmental problem was in the U.S. at the time.

These old photographs show just how polluted America’s air and waterways were before the EPA stepped in and cleaned them up. You can view more from the series here on Flickr.

1. “The Atlas Chemical Company Belches Smoke across Pasture Land in Foreground”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

2. “Smog Hangs Over Louisville And Ohio River, September 1972”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

3. “Burning Barge On The Ohio River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

4. “Detroit Lake the Dam”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

5. “Paddlewheel Steamboats Seen From Banks Of Ohio River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

6. “Litter Left In The Ohio River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

7. “Broken Glass From “No-Deposit, Non-Returnable” Bottles Along the Washington Shore of the Columbia River in a Public Picnic Area”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

8. “The Job Of Clearing Drift From The Potomac And Anacostia Rivers Is Done By The Army Corps Of Engineers”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

9. “Warning of Polluted Water at Staten Island Beach Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Background”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

10. “Abandoned Car in Jamaica Bay”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

11. “Sand Covers Abandoned Car on Beach at Breezy Point South of Jamaica Bay”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

12. “Outflow Pipe 6 of the Oxford Paper Company Will at Rumford on the Androscoggin River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

13. “Mary Workman Holds A Jar of Undrinkable Water That Comes from Her Well, and Has Filed A Damage Suit Against the Hanna Coal Company”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

14. “International Paper Company Mill at Jay on the Androscoggin River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

15. “Cleaning Up the Roadside in Onset”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

Powerful photos, that’s for sure.

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Parents in Britain Are Trying to “Cure” Their Kids’ Autism by Forcing Them to Drink Bleach

Yes, the world is getting dumber by the minute.

Autism is a disorder that affects up to 1 in 100 children, and there currently is no cure.

A fact that is not, sadly, stopping U.K. parents from forcing their autistic children to drink (or take an enema of) a dangerous chemical cocktail that is mostly made of bleach.

The Mirror reports that 6 different police forces have questioned parents after their children were reduced to vomiting or experiencing severe diarrhea after ingesting bleach in some form – it’s even being marketed as a “Master Mineral Solution,” and sold for $37 online.

Bleach. For kids. To drink.

This “Master Mineral Solution” is sodium chlorite mixed with citric acid powder – very literally industrial strength bleach – and not only does it not cure a damn thing, doctors say it will eventually kill one of these unsuspecting children. ABC did an investigate report on the MMS, in which they confronted the bishop of the ‘church’ that hawks the product as a literal miracle cure.

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Sounds like #zerbos #weirdos #drinkingbleach

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Everything from older mothers to pollution to, of course, vaccines has been blamed for the rise in autism diagnoses, but there are currently no definitive answers from the medical community. There are several different treatment regimens available, depending on where your child falls on the spectrum of autism, which include different kinds of therapies to improve speech and behavior, and maybe medications if there are related medical conditions.

Which is a good thing to remember the next time you wonder whether poisoning your child is better than working with your doctor to improve his or her quality of life.

The post Parents in Britain Are Trying to “Cure” Their Kids’ Autism by Forcing Them to Drink Bleach appeared first on UberFacts.

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500 Million Brazilian Bees Died in Only Three Months

You’ve probably heard by now that the world’s ability to produce food is connected to the availability of a thriving bee population. Bees are nature’s most integral pollinators, responsible for pollinating 75% of the world’s crops.

And they’re dying at a rate that’s almost impossible to comprehend – to the tune of 500 million bees in Brazil alone in just three month’s time.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Between December 2018 and February 2019, 400 million bees in Rio Grande do Sul, 7 million in Santa Catarina, and 45 million in Mato Grosso do Sul lost their lives, and Aldo Machado, the vice president of Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul’s beekeeping association, is concerned.

Image Credit: scrural.gov

“As soon as the healthy bees began clearing the dying bees out of the hives, they became contaminated. They started dying en masse.”

Researchers are blaming Brazil’s decision to allow the use of 300 new pesticides on crops in 2019; many of the dead bees contained traces of fipronil, an insecticide commonly used to rid dogs and cats of fleas and ticks.. The U.S. EPA classifies it as a possible human carcinogen, but if you’ve got a dog, you may have some in your house.

Image Credit: scrural.gov

Alberto Bastos, the president of the Apiculturist Association of Brazil’s Federal District, told Bloomberg that the “death of all these bees is a sign that we’re being poisoned.”

Not to mention that bees provide billions of dollars worth of agricultural benefits that will disappear along with them if they go.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Will people listen? Will it be too late by the time food shortages begin to make their way into developed corners of the world?

Only time will tell, but the people who are hearing what the bees have to tell us are already beating the drum.

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According to Science, You Can Only Have up to 150 Friends

No matter how incredibly charming you are, there is apparently a natural limit to how many friends you can have: and that number is 150.

It’s known as “Dunbar’s number” because British anthropologist Robin Dunbar came up with the figure. Dunbar defines a friend as “the number of people you would not feel embarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink if you happened to bump into them in a bar,” and back in the 1990s, he asserted that people can only maintain 150 social relationships that stable at any given point in time.

Photo Credit: iStock

Dunbar went on the claim that we devote 40% of our social time to the five people who are closest to us. The next 20% is devoted to the next closest 10.

These numbers are now widely accepted in social science. Some companies, like W. L. Gore and Associates (the producers of Gore-Tex) even limit the size of their offices to 150 employees.

Dunbar’s number didn’t appear out of thin air; he came up with it by studying primates. He found that primates with bigger brains were able to track more social relationships, and from his research he predicted an average human social network size of 148 based on the size of the human brain.

Then he rounded up.

Photo Credit: iStock

Not all social scientists agree with Dunbar. But the 150 figure is consistent with other figures throughout history, such as the estimated size of neolithic farming villages and the average size of army units from Roman times to the present day.

So, the next time you want to gently turn down a new friend, just tell ’em you’ve already reached your Dunbar number.

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Check out These 5 Ancient Legends Based on Real Events

A lot of kids go through a phase when they’re fascinated by the legends and myths that have wound their way through the centuries. Whether Robin Hood, Arthur and Lancelot, the antics of the gods of old, or creatures like a unicorn or a vampire, it’s fun to imagine that the world might have once been more magical than it is today.

And these 5 legends, which are rooted in reality, suggest that just maybe…it was.

5. Atlantis

Greek philosopher Plato was the first to describe a beautiful, advanced civilization that once disappeared beneath the sea, never to be seen or heard from again – but he was far from the last to re-tell one of the most well-known myths in human history.

Now, many archaeologists think he was describing the collapse of the Minoan empire after a volcanic eruption rocked Thera (modern-day Santorini). The core of the island collapsed in the aftermath, creating a tsunami that flooded the island and left it completely under water, sending it to a grave from which it never arose.

4. The Ape-Men Army of Sri Lanka

Indian Sanskrit epic the Ramayana features a classic kidnapping plot, in which Sita, the wife of god Rama, is stolen away to the Demon Kingdom on Lanka. To rescue her, Rama banded with an army of ape-like men to build a floating bridge between India and Lanka that they used to defeat the demon king, Ravana.

The tale, of course, is just good storytelling, but the bridge still exists – aerial surveys show a 30-mile-long stretch of limestone shoals under the sea that reaches between India and Sri Lanka.

Experts believe it was above the water until a 15th-century cyclone brought a huge storm surge into the channel.

3. Thunderbird and the Whale

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The Thunderbird awaits you.

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Native American lore tells of a benevolent, supernatural being called a Thunderbird, which once swooped over the sea to snatch a killer whale that was stealing resources from the Quileute tribe.

The bird prevailed, dropping the whale on dry land to die with a thud that shook the ground, and many natives died during the battle and ensuing chaos.

Back in the 1980s, geologists discovered that a powerful earthquake occurred in the area in 1700, one that would have been powerful enough to cause a tsunami. It would have hit the coast where the tribe lived, generating the tales to explain the giant shaking of the earth.

As far as the Thunderbird, many scientists believe it’s based on the Aiornis, a prehistoric giant bird that co-existed thousands of years ago with early North America settlers. The bird had a wingspan of up to 16 feet and used to feast on whales washed up on the beaches.

2. The Guest Star

In 1006, people looking at the sky all over the world described seeing a “guest star.” Persian scholar Ibn Sina was particularly intrigued, however, explaining how the star hung in the sky for months, changing color and eventually emitting sparks before fading away.

We now know that Sina was describing a supernova that took place 7200 years ago and whose dying remnants can still be detected by powerful NASA technology.

They believe the color changes he described were due to the merger of two white dwarfs, which astronomers say would create a supernova bursting with color. What Sina did, essentially, was provide details for modern scientists that would otherwise have been lost to time.

1. The Great Flood

There are stories from around the world that join the biblical account of a great flood that covered most of the earth, wiping out almost all of mankind in the process – so most think it makes sense to assume this event took place in our human past in some way, shape, or form.

Geological records show that around 11,500 years ago, glacier meltwater melted into the North Sea, causing the Black Sea to dry up while the Mediterranean Basin refilled with seawater from the Atlantic Ocean. Between them was dry land, but eventually the Mediterranean overflowed into the Black Sea, forcing the barrier between them to all but disappear.

The result would have been a waterfall 200x the volume of Niagara Falls and covering an area double the size of Manhattan in a single day.

That said, the worst flood of the last 10 millennia took place along the Yellow River in China at a date that coincides with ancient texts.

This is the next best thing to actually being a kid again!

The post Check out These 5 Ancient Legends Based on Real Events appeared first on UberFacts.

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Here Are 6 Ways to Get Rid of Extra Hangers Without Throwing Them Away

You likely end up with a surplus of extra hangers on a regular basis. But those hangers don’t have to end up in the trash. Depending on what type of hanger it is, you can find a way to recycle it, Lifehacker reports.

Hangers come in three basic types: wire, plastic and wood. Wire hangers usually can’t go into the recycling bin (unless you live in New York City, where they’re included in the recycling program). Plastic and wood hangers, too, generally shouldn’t go into the recycling.

Photo Credit: iStock

However, you can research your city’s curbside recycling program to see whether they do accept any of these types of hangers. If not, you can ask your dry cleaner if they take used hangers. You can also look for an organization that might need them, such as a shelter. If the hangers are from a clothing store, some of them also take their own hangers back for reuse, such as Target (and next time you go shopping, refuse the hangers so you don’t have to deal with this issue).

You may also be able to recycle wire hangers by taking them in bulk to a metal scrap recycling plant.

Photo Credit: iStock

Of course, you can always reuse these hangers at home by simply adding them to your own closet — if you have any room.

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10 Facts That Are Good for Quiet Reflection

With this fact set, you’re getting quality and quantity.

Enjoy! And learn!

1. Harmful

Photo Credit: did you know?

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2. Get a load of those names

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

3. Are you living it?

Photo Credit: did you know?

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4. Prudish

Photo Credit: did you know?

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5. Thank God!

Photo Credit: did you know?

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6. Dream away

Photo Credit: did you know?

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7. I think I sound like Barry White

Photo Credit: did you know?

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8. That is cool!

Photo Credit: did you know?

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9. Clone wars

Photo Credit: did you know?

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10. Ahhhhh, that’s better

Photo Credit: did you know?

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I can safely say I didn’t know any of those facts. How about you?!?!

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These Service Dogs-In-Training Attended a Performance of “Billy Elliott” and Paid Adorable, Rapt Attention

In case you didn’t know, service dogs go through official good citizen training – the and training that allows them to best assist specific disabilities – but that they also typically spend time with foster families so they can learn how to behave in everyday social situations?

It’s true.

One of those everyday situations might be going to the theater – live, musical, or movie – with their trainer, so that if the person they’re paired with wants to take in a show of any kind, they’ll know exactly what to expect and how to behave.

And that’s how we got this theater full of pups, all quietly, cutely watching Billy Elliott.

The dogs are part of the K-9 Country Inn Service Dog program in Canada, and they were all very good dogs – every one observed proper theater behavior.

The pups attended a “relaxed performance” at the Stratford Festival theater, which means it’s a showing specifically for people who need more accessibility, accommodations, or reduced noise, lighting, or startling effects.

According to the Stratford  Festival website:

“Relaxed performances are specifically designed to welcome patrons who will benefit from a less restricted audience environment. Patrons of all abilities are welcome, including but not limited to those with intellectual or learning disabilities, sensory processing conditions or autism. There is a relaxed attitude to noise and movement within the auditorium, and some minor production changes may be made to reduce the intensity of light, sound and other potentially startling effects. Babes in arms are also welcome to our relaxed performances.”

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Thank you Stratford Festival @stratfest for welcoming us to Billy Elliot – The Musical! – It was a phenomenal show, all of our teams had a fantastic time. We greatly appreciate the assistance from the staff and local goodies for our service dogs from The Barkery! – Photo description: A group of handlers and their service dogs sit in front of the Stratford Theatre. They are all smiling at the camera. – #k9countryinnservicedogs#servicedog#assistancedog#firefighter#endthestigma#healing#ptsd#ptsdservicedog#ptsdrecovery#ptsdawareness #veteran #canadianarmedforces #ivegotyourback911#firstresponders#911dispatcher#posttraumaticstressdisorder#goldenretriever#billyelliot #mentalhealth #k9cisd #paramedic #medic #toronto #ems #labrador #standardpoodle #stratfordfestival #poodle

A post shared by K-9 Country Inn Service Dogs (@k9countryinnservicedogs) on

What a great combination of events, all of which prove there are good humans (and pooches) out there with making the world accessible for everyone on their minds.

And, just for fun, Mark Hamill wins for best response on Twitter.

The force is definitely with him, and may it be with these pooches when they go on to take their permanent assignments!

The post These Service Dogs-In-Training Attended a Performance of “Billy Elliott” and Paid Adorable, Rapt Attention appeared first on UberFacts.