Category: World Culture

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Dark Facts About Countries That Most People Love

There are certain countries in the world that a majority of people would say they would love to visit – Italy, France, England, China, Ireland, Australia…

My list actually goes on and on, because there’s hardly anywhere I wouldn’t like to go if I had the chance!

Some (or all) of these beloved countries have dark histories and lesser-known facts, though, so before you visit, here are 16 things you might like to know.

16. That’s not the worst thing they did during the war.

During ww2 japan used living POW’s for bayonet practice.

The Japanese were worse than the nazis in some ways. The difference is Germany knows their dark history and paid for it.

Japan swept it all under the rug and never paid for or owned up to their war crimes.

15. But I want to see the pyramids.

In Egypt , sexual harassment is like the air , everywhere. Something every woman must live with.

I don’t know if it’s the same now, but I travelled around Egypt for a few weeks in the late nineties when I was in my early twenties. I had a couple of rather forceful attempts against me (as a man). I learnt to be quite careful using a public toilet.

14. I think it must have been.

Here in Colombia we have enough material to have a dedicated post, but for mentioning one….

In 1928, a banana company workers ceased their production and got in protests. They wanted better work conditions because They worked a lot for the crap of payment they got.

The government’s response was send the national army to shoot a place where between 2000 and 4000 people were sleeping or relaxing. Officially 13 people died, but the people there told that number was faked and the death counter was a lot higher

13. It’s so beautiful, too.

New Zealand has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the OECD.

New Zealand also has some of the highest rates of bullying (in school and in the workplace). Everyone talks about how nice Kiwis are… but in addition to the ‘macho’ culture (and maybe along with it) there is this big, dark, ugly underbelly of wide spread bullying.

I can imagine that this very much contributes to high suicide rates.

12. I have questions.

Mongolia wiped nearly 11% of the ENTIRE world population off the face of the planet.

The largest acts of mass killing/genocide in human history.

It literally changed our carbon footprint by an estimated 700 million tonnes of carbon in the atmosphere during the 13th century.

11. Eat the rich?

The Dutch once ate their prime minister.

When Johan de Witt – the ‘Grand Pensionary’ (in effect, prime minister) of the Dutch Republic – was killed along with his brother in 1672, there are accounts of some among the mob taking parts of the bodies and eating them.

10. What the heck, New Zealand?

New Zealand: high rates of child abuse, hidden poverty and a housing crisis on the brink (not enough housing and what there is is extremely expensive to both rent and buy and rapidly rising at a ridiculous rate. It’s also not particularly high quality).

9. The face I just made.

On Toronto’s beaches up to the mid 1950s, it was common to see signs that read “No Dogs or Jews Allowed.”

8. They don’t take sides.

During WWII, the Swiss National Bank accepted large quantities of gold from the German Reichsbank.

It was payment for Swiss export shipments(weapons, ammunition..).

A large part of this Reichsbank gold had either been looted by the German occupying forces from the stocks of the occupied countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, etc.), or it came from the victims of the Nazi persecution of the Jews [Holocaust].

7. In Canada? Seriously?

Canada had a cult leader named Roch Thériault of Ant Hill Kids who did some VERY VERY disturbing things to his followers and the children.

Also the podcast “Cults” had an episode on them but they even left out the worse things they did.

6. Where is it going?

Canada is the biggest producer of asbestos in the world, although using the product is banned in the country.

“In 2009, about 9% of the world’s asbestos production was mined in Canada. In late 2011, Canada’s remaining two asbestos mines, both located in Quebec, halted operations. In September 2012, the Quebec government halted asbestos mining.”

5. No one teachers this bit of Western history.

France had concentration camps… in 1936 for Spanish immigrants who fled the Civil War.

They also had concentration camps in Algeria in the 1960’s, and a weird bit of bureaucracy where they didn’t call them camps.

4. Same awful story, different country.

Norway used to suppressed the natives from up north, by separating them from their parents and forcing norwegian culture upon them.

Learning norwegian and how to live like a norwegian.

3. That’s not so happy.

Bhutan forcibly expelled Hindus in order to create its “happy” paradise.

Yes.. Uncle was working for UN during the whole Bhutanese Refugee situation in Nepal. He said they were kicked out by the country. There is a large Bhutanese refugee community in Baltimore.

2. NINETEEN NINETY-SIX.

From the 1700s up to 1996, Ireland was home to “Magdalene Laundries,” basically labor camps run by the Catholic Church for “Fallen Women” who had sex outside of marriage (a lot of time the women were SA survivors who’d been molested/impregnated by priests or male relatives)

1. They can keep their lips sealed.

If you’ve ever looked at a country like Liechtenstein on a map and wondered how a country that small can maintain a flourishing economy the answer is that they’re one of the largest offshore banking sites in the world.

Most people only think of the Cayman Islands when it comes to offshore banking but the Cayman Islands aren’t even close to being the only place where rich people stash their money to avoid paying taxes on it. Most of the places that do it are territories and not countries (the Cook Islands, Anguila, Jersey and Guernsey are a few other big offshore banking sites) but Liechtenstein has made it the core of their economy.

I had no idea!

Do you know any other weird facts about these countries that might give people pause?

Share the with us in the comments.

The post Dark Facts About Countries That Most People Love appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Discussed Their Creepiest Travel Stories

You never know what you’re gonna into out there when you travel in a foreign country…or your own country, for that matter.

There are all kinds of weirdos, creeps, and criminals you might encounter…so you best be on high alert.

AskReddit users talked about their scariest travel stories.

Let’s take a look.

1. Alone in India.

“In 2007 I went to India by myself, I was going to a friends wedding but first I decided to have some time in Delhi.

I was staying at a guest house that was attached to one of the embassies, I think it was the Andaman Islands consulate (edit: I can’t remember which one it was, it was arranged by someone else. It was 14 years ago). My friend’s dad worked in immigration so had arranged the room for me.

When I checked into my room late at night the bathroom window was open and they were muddy footprints going from the window onto the toilet and into the room. I immediately checked the room for any people but it was empty.

As a woman travelling by myself it was quite frightening.”

2. Keep driving!

“Driving up through the Arco Desert in iIaho and saw a guy pushing an empty baby stroller along the highway. no cars or stops for miles in either direction.”

3. Got any cat?

“I had just hiked all day in Arches NP in Utah. I decided not to camp that night as a thunderstorm was moving in. Upon reaching the hostel I was informed that their rooms were booked for the night so I bought a tent pass and decided to sleep in my car.

I was extremely sunburnt from the days hiking and striped down to my underwear. The car windows were partially left open to have some air circulation. Around 3am I heard someone outside the car talking, a few seconds later a man stuck his face in my window and exclaimed, “got any cat?!”

Half naked I arose like a cobra with my fist cocked. This old man again asked if I had any cat, I really don’t remember what I said or did I just remember yelling at him. I tried to fall back asleep to no avail.

Eventually I decided to drive off into the night to my next destination, Monument Valley, and witnessed one of the most surreal sunrises of my life.”

4. Beware of dogs.

“When I was in a coastal town in Colombia last year, I was cornered by a pack of domesticated dogs.

I was walking back to my hostel on the main strip of shops after dark and noticed a pack of dogs waiting outside a store. The store happened to be the last business on the main strip and also the last source of light between it and my hostel up the road.

As I passed the store, a man inside noticed me and signaled to his dogs to follow me. At first it was cute, but it turned scary when I tried to turn down my street and was snarled and barked at. The dogs cornered me between the road and a house, barking and jumping on me.

Flustered, I eventually pushed through the pack to get up the road, but continued being swarmed. I kept swatting and yelling at the dogs until I just a couple houses down from my hostel and the man whistled to recall his dogs.

The family that ran the hostel came outside when they heard all the noise and asked me if I was alright. Turns out this wasn’t a one-off thing; a local misogynist has literally trained his dogs to scare and trap women.

I shudder to think what would have happened if I didn’t shuffle up the street when I did or if the family hadn’t appeared in the street before the man caught up with me.”

5. Twilight zone.

“I spent a night at a hotel in Naples, Italy. It was the end of a long trip abroad & I was tight on cash so I booked a super cheap room at a surprisingly nice looking hotel near the airport.

My taxi driver laughed when I told him the name of the hotel & proceeded to tell me it was a refurbished hotel for “ladies of the night” basically a hotel for prostitutes. I didn’t see any other guests & every single staff member knew my room number off the top of their heads. It was a terrified sleepless night, filled with weird sounds. In the morning they had set up enough breakfast for 30 people, but there was not a soul in sight.

I’ve never been one to spook easily but something just felt WRONG about that place. I felt like I was on an episode of The Twilight Zone.”

6. That is messed up.

“Fell asleep on a cross-Atlantic flight.

Window seat, split from my parents cuz f*ck United. Woke up to the guy next to me sticking his hands down my pants.

I was in middle school at the time.”

7. Drugged.

“Drugged and assaulted while travelling in Croatia.

Was travelling solo, and had befriended another female traveller. In Split, met a guy who joined us for dinner, and at some point I blacked out (I am not a drinker, but was drinking a single glass of wine). Pretty sure I was roofied, and I woke up at his home.

To be frank, I’ve mostly blocked out what little I can remember. That was the beginning of a year long trip that took me across Europe and Asia, where I slept on park benches in Turkish bus stations and alone in huts in Thailand and that was the only incident. Stopped drinking any alcohol, point blank for the rest of the trip though.”

8. That is scary.

“Riding my motorbike cross state, 2:30 am no lights no moon just my headlamps and the thump of the engine, and miles of dark endless fields on either side, I am almost floating on a boat of light in the darkness, heck if you lost concentration it became hard to balance, it was that dark.

All of a sudden the road infront of me is covered in slick blood, like covered, almost as if someone deliberately painted it red, blood red. I had to slow down as my tires began to loose traction a little, and stopped looked around found nothing, nada, no herd of deers massacred, no accident signs, no broken glass, no bodies, just the irony bloody smell and the eery quiet all around.

I noped the heck outta there, and I believe set some kind of speed record that night, still to this day I have no idea what happened there.”

9. At the pub.

“I was in London for 6 days on a stop-over on my way back to Canada from 6 weeks in South Africa. I’d been working in South Africa, very long but rewarding days, so the London stop was touristy and lazy, just a nice reset before I got back home to Canada.

There was a pub a block or two from the hostel I was staying in that I ate at every night. It was cheap, cozy, and never too crowded so I’d bring a book, order a pint and eat supper. I had chatted with the waitress a couple nights in a row, she was very kind, my age, and we exchanged a few stories and she knew from chatting that I was travelling alone, and staying in a hostel nearby.

Well on day 4 I followed my usual route from hostel to pub and greeted the waitress. She said “hello” and quickly brought over a drink menu. Not 30 seconds after I’d sat down, a man walked in and sat a few tables away. She motioned to him and mumbled “do you know him?”. I kind of laughed and said, definitely not, I don’t know anyone in London.

She nodded, and positioned herself between myself and the man and said quietly “he got off a bench and followed you from the street over, I don’t like the look of him and I just thought I’d ask. Might be nothing, but thought I’d mention it.” I thanked her and said I’m sure it’s coincidence, she shrugged and took my order, and the evening proceeded as usual. The man also ordered a drink but no food.

I stayed for over 2 hours, reading, eating and drinking. The pub was quiet, a few other people or groups came and went, but the man stayed. He drank the one pint and refused top ups. The waitress kept a close eye on him, and me, and stopped over to chat several times between refills but didn’t bring him up again.

When I was finishing my last drink and preparing to leave I glanced over at him and noticed he looked on the edge of his seat, like he was preparing to leave too. I hadn’t really thought much of it til then, but my stomach suddenly knotted up. It was dark, it was drizzly, and I had a short, but lonesome, walk back to my hostel.

I suddenly felt distinctly unsafe. I summoned the waitress over to pay and asked her if she’d mind calling me a taxi as well. She nodded vigorously and I knew she thought this was a good idea.

The taxi showed up, I thanked the waitress and left. I hopped in the taxi and I swear that old man thought I was so dumb for needing a drive for such a short distance but whatever. I felt so much safer. I went back the next evening as it would be my last night in London and I wanted to say goodbye, and thank the waitress for her hospitality, friendship and ultimately looking out for me.

When I arrived she ran over and said she was so glad I’d called the cab. I guess right after I left the man left too, seeming really agitated. He’d not even asked for a bill, just left money on the table and stormed out. She felt very confident he’d seen me walking alone, followed me in and was planning to “approach” me when I left. What would have happened then neither her nor I really wanted to think about.

I had a lovely last night at the pub and we even shared some small glasses of wine together for a quick cheers before I left. I don’t walk places alone at night anymore, even if it’s just a short distance.”

10. In the woods.

“I was camping with a friend (a male friend, and I’m a chick) and I went to find firewood while he set up camp. I found a place where you can rent cabins and I found a worker outside chopping wood.

I asked him how much for a bucket of wood and he sold it to me. He also invited me and my friend to a concert this cabin place was hosting. He was friendly but a bit…weird and reeeaallly chatty. He asked if we were camped up by the river and I said, no we’re by the bridge. As soon as it came out of my mouth I knew I shouldn’t have said it. I headed back to camp, told my friend what happened, and went to the woods to pee.

While peeing, I heard a truck pull up to our campsite and I headed out to see what was going on.

This man had 100% COME TO FIND ME AND MY FRIEND, he was asking about me. I’m sure he had assumed he was going to find 2 young women alone at their campsite, not a dude. He had unchopped wood in his truck, and an axe, and he pretended he came to give me more wood. So he started chopping up wood beside our camp with his axe.

I politely said thanks and whatnot and managed to get him to leave. I hugged my friend so f*cking hard. That man was not expecting me to be with a male friend, and I shudder to think what could’ve happened if I had been alone or with a girl friend. He literally had brought an axe with him. I guess he could’ve been genuinely being kind, but that’s not what my gut was telling me.

Lesson learned folks. Don’t let dumb sh*t slip out!!!”

11. What happened?

“I went to a big city in Colombia (I’m a man from USA) and the hostel had a rooftop hangout spot.

People left one by one until it was just me and a girl from Europe. It was around 10:30 pm when i last remember checking. She was quite friendly, and the conversation was very surface level casual – asking about the best restaurants in town, or something.

Now I was not drunk or doing drugs, I only had two Aguila lite beers (they’re less than 3% ABV) in 2.5 hours, but the next thing I remember from the night was waking up in the early morning hours in a hotel hallway bathroom shower with a jacket on now, but no undershirt. The lights were completely out and I struggled to gather my senses as I crawled around utterly confused in pitch blackness until I felt a toilet and realized I was in a bathroom.

It was my jacket by the way, but it was previously in a suitcase in my room.

I then went back to my room, shared with 3 other people by creaky wood bunk beds, to sleep more after that. The next day when I asked, nobody noticed anything strange about my night; they all slept soundly the whole night… which is also strange given I apparently came in “inebriated” to some degree, got a jacket out of a suitcase on the top bunk, left, then came back. I found my shirt outside my door the next day when I woke up.

I honestly didn’t bring it up to the girl ever, because I truly don’t believe she was the cause of anything. We both saw each other plenty after that around the hostel for another week. She was genuinely a kind person.

I didn’t feel physically hurt whatsoever, and nothing of mine was stolen (and I had a smartphone and about $150 cash in my pocket). I never got an explanation for this night. I have never been aware of a sleepwalking habit.”

12. Scary.

“I’m American, and lived in Malaysia for several years towards the tail end of high school.

I traveled to Vietnam with my sister and father. One of the places we visited was an area of concentrated tunnels upkept from the Vietnam war era. We had the option of touring some of the tunnels, and jumped at the chance. We started out in a small room with holes at eye level that just cleared the earth’s surface. Perfect for shooting at the feet of the enemy.

We were then led down a tunnel that required us to stoop, seeing as we were significantly taller than our vietnamese guide. We came to another small room. Our guide told us that one tunnel led up and out, the other led to what was once a weapon cache. My sister and I really wanted to see that room, but my dad had enough and asked to be led out.

To this day I have no idea what my thought process was, but I decided to lead my sister to the next room. I might have been under the impression that there was a second guide there, waiting for us?

Unsurprisingly, it got dark. The guide had the flashlight, and the hanging lamp from the previous room got harder to see by. I kept thinking “it has to be just a few feet further.” Instead, the tunnel got shorter and shorter, until we were basically crawling forwards in the dark, single file.

I remember looking back, and realizing the tunnel must have curved or something because the lamp light was gone. There wasn’t enough space to turn around, so I kept going. I felt horrible, like I had just condemned my sister and I to dying in the dark, crushed by the ever shrinking tunnel.

Eventually the floor in front of me ended. Thinking back, we had probably reached the weapon cache room and only needed to drop a couple of feet to stand, but in the dark I only felt empty air in front of me. I’m pretty sure that moment is the moment I developed a fear of really wide open spaces, because to this day I can imagine some giant maw inches from my flailing arm looking for purchase.

I told my sister we’d have to crawl backwards, and godd*mn if that middle schooler wasn’t an absolute trooper about the whole thing. Unfortunately we must have taken a turn without realizing it, because we started down there blind, lost, crawling in the dirt for what I would later learn was about an hour.

The guide eventually found us, and I’ve never been happier to see a flashlight.”

How about you?

Have you ever had anything scary happen to you while you were traveling?

Please share your stories with us in the comments. Thanks!

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People Share Free/Low-Cost Resources That College Students Need to Know About

Were your college days filled with scraping by, eating ramen, and drinking Hamm’s because you were always low on money?

Well, you’re not alone, my friends, because that’s the way it goes for countless numbers of young kids out there just trying to get an education.

And that’s why these resources that folks shared are so helpful for students trying to get by.

AskReddit users offered up free and low-cost resources that college students might want to take advantage of.

1. Cheap software.

“A lot of times your university will have stupid cheap software licenses for students/faculty.

At my university we got Adobe Creative-Cloud licenses for $10/year and free Microsoft Office licences (this was before office 365, so it wasn’t a subscription).

Sometimes the cheap software is only for certain departments/majors but at mine they had several deeply discounted software packages any student could buy.”

2. Good one.

“Find the previous editions of your textbooks. Frequently they will be as cheap as $0.05.

If your professor pulls homework questions out of the current edition go to the library and use their reference copy just for the questions.

Although with a lot of the access codes needed these days it might not be possible.”

3. Worth a shot.

“Check with your grocery store to see if they have a student discount day.

15% off can go a long way.”

4. Give it a shot.

“To help organize notes and sources for papers and assignments, I highly recommend Zotero to help keep organized.

It also makes writing citations super easy.”

5. For the smart folks.

“For science/ stem people: Khan Academy videos.

They saved me several times.”

6. This right here.

“Please use your school’s on-campus mental health professionals.

They are easy to access, usually free, certified, and acutely aware of the stresses and issues with college life.”

7. All kinds of discounts.

“Student discounts. I’m sure someone else has already put this but I benefitted from it greatly.

As a music major, I had to buy a lot of different DAWs and equipment along my journey. Big corporations want you to buy their product, but are aware that you’re already digging yourself into a huge hole of debt so they often times will drop the price of a product by half or more to sell it to you.

For example, as a student you can get an Adobe membership for about $20 a month. I got a copy of Studio One 4 for $250 as opposed to $500 because I was a student. This also works if you’re not a student but want to make a large purchase.

Most sites don’t actually check to see if you’re a student so just jump thru some hoops and see where it gets you!”

8. Doing the Lord’s work.

“Church pantries.

Free groceries every week/every other week.

Just being proof you live in the area.”

9. Drink up!

“The grad student bar usually has cheap booze.

Art shows often have free booze.”

10. Very helpful.

“Mendeley.

Its a citation manager geared towards peer reviewed literature. It has a browser extension that downloads the pdf/ citation, and integrates with word. As you’re typing, you can add in text citations by searching for the author.

Then when you’re done, click add bibliography. Boom.. Done. Its made by elsevier. Once you use it, you’ll wonder why you ever added citation by hand/ one at a time.”

11. Might as well try.

“Fafsa, even if you don’t qualify, it’s still worth trying to get financial aid.

I only have to pay about $45 per class as opposed to $250.

Might look confusing and tedious initially, but after the first time the website usually saves your info and it only takes a few clicks to apply for the next year.”

12. Yes!

“LIBRARY CARD. This cannot be overstated enough.

Libraries are one of the only remaining establishments in which you are not compelled to spend money. It is FREE material. Free books, movies, magazines and periodicals, games, sometimes even technology!

Libraries are amazing. Some library cards even provide you access to online only materials.”

13. Get on it!

“Coursera!

Basically college classes of various types taught online for free (you can pay for a certificate if you like, but you can access all the resources for free if you just want the knowledge).

The fun thing is the variety is huge and beyond the usual intro level stuff- for example, if you are past intro programming and like astronomy, there’s an excellent astronomy data science class I recommend to a lot of people.”

How about you?

Do you know of any good free or cheap resources that college students should know about?

If so, please share them with us in the comments. Thanks a lot!

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What Are Free and Low-Cost Resources College Students Should Know About? People Filled Us In!

No doubt about it, if you go to college, money is always tight…and that’s a huge understatement for a lot of folks out there.

So, every college student should be well aware of everything single thing that they can take advantage of while they’re studying hard and trying to get through school.

People on AskReddit were nice enough to share free and low-cost resources they think college students should know about.

1. You need to relax.

“Spotify Premium, Hulu, and Showtime for $5/month total with a student email address.

Works for grad school students too.

Not helpful with productivity, but very helpful for sanity.”

2. Study up!

“Paul’s Online Math Notes for calculus.

It’s filled with examples and decent, down to earth explanations that don’t confuse the sh*t outta you.”

3. The good ol’ library.

“Use the library for everything you can: textbooks, movies, games, music, printing, quiet study space, tutoring, etc.

Librarians love to help and you might be surprised what they can lend out to you.

I borrowed a telescope last week!”

4. Try it out.

“Google Scholar.

Great free google search engine that gives credible articles to use in research papers and show you how to properly cite them.”

5. Pro tip.

“Pay attention to events calendars.

Most college events have free food.

This may be different for this semester, but don’t underestimate it down the road.”

6. You gotta eat!

“BudgetBytes.com

Cheap meals that are healthier and tastier than ramen and Kraft dinners.”

7. Lots of software.

“You probably get access to a lot of software for no added cost.

This is how I got Windows for my pc.

It’s very worth checking out, a lot of times schools offer a free subscription of Windows, Office365, virus protection that’s not McAfee, and some Adobe products.”

8. I didn’t know about this.

“If you are a starving student, and there’s a Sikh temple in your area, they do something called a Langer.

It’s basically food they serve to the community and it’s legitimately good. They usually will ask you to volunteer or do some kitchen work in exchange. Me and a group of 4 college students would attend regularly, and the food was great.

I was broke and had to pay my way through college with zero support. I had a friend that told me about the Langer, but I was worried they would push the religion on me. Didn’t happen at all. I was nervous just showing up, but they were some of the kindest people I’ve ever met with zero judgement.

I’m not religious, but Sikh people restored my faith in humanity.”

9. You never know.

“Go to the awards office at your school and talk to someone and find out if you qualify for anything.

You’d be surprised how many bursaries and similar go unclaimed each year. As a student every little bit helps, and you never know what you’ll qualify for until you go and ask.

Some are based on grades sure, but many are based on need or your background or circumstances, and the occasional one is just first person to sign up with a pulse.

Seriously it’s worth the hour it takes for you to go visit in person and talk to a real person who can guide you through. Or maybe you can do all that sh*t online now.

But take the time, it could be free money to you and free you up to concentrate on your studies.”

10. Interesting.

“Clep testing.

It’s a program that allows you to take a single test rather than an entire class for credit. It’s only for some general academic courses, and each college has its guidelines on how they apply to credits.

That said, taking advantage of them can reduce the time and money required to earn your degree.”

11. Search high and low.

“Never buy/rent your textbooks from the college bookstore unless you can’t find them anywhere else online.

Seriously, bookstores overprice the sh*t out of your books and you will save a lot of money getting them from Amazon, Chegg, Ebay, etc instead.”

12. The data suggests…

“Data suggests that the number one reason students go to college is for better job prospects once they graduate.

Because of this, remember that to a recruiter or HR department, college is more than just your academics. It is about all of your experiences: class projects, personal projects, getting involved on campus through student orgs, student worker positions, volunteering, internships, etc.

This means you should make use of your school’s Career Center well before spring semester of your senior year so that you can learn how to talk about yourself professionally: through a resume, cover letter, interviews, networking. Learning the basics earlier and working on them each year as you look to secure internships will make you a really successful candidate once it comes time to find a full time job.

As some of the other comments have mentioned, your student fees pay for resources you have access to through the Career Center, so take advantage of them!”

13. Use it or lose it.

“While not technically free, you probably pay a bunch of student fees for access to the gym, pool, free/reduced cost public transportation etc.

Understand what things your student fees cover and take advantage of them.”

Do you know of any good resources that college students should take advantage of?

If so, please tell us about them in the comments.

Thanks in advance!

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People Debate Whether School Cultivates a Fear of Failure in Children

I can honestly say that school DID NOT cultivate a fear of failure in me personally, but I’m just one example…

I know times have changed at least a little bit since I was in school, but in my school, if you weren’t a great athlete, you were kind of invisible…

I’m not complaining at all, I got good grades and had a blast in school with my friends, but I didn’t feel like the teachers were really all that interested in me in one way or another, so it was all a wash…

Do you think school cultivates a fear of failure in students?

Here’s what AskReddit users had to say.

1. The system…

“I feel like the school system barely does anything to try and spark interest in learning and instead just beats in a fear of failure due to the grading system causing students to fear making mistakes and instead focus on just trying to get good scores.

When a kid who might be a slow learner doesn’t understand something but the class is already moving on to another topic their going to feel embarrassed and anxious and instead of trying to fully understand the topics they’re just going to try and memorize as much as they can for that week just to do well on that week’s pop quiz or whatever and then forget that sh*t right after.”

2. Still haunted.

“I changed school systems a lot as a kid. One of those was between 3rd and 4th grade.

The school I went to during 3rd grade was about a year or two ahead of the school I went to during 4th grade in maths, so I had a really easy time and often ended up very bored, and occasionally made minor errors I may not have if I were paying attention.

Instead of being happy that I understood the material or encouraging me, my teacher berated me for every minor mistake and told my mother that I was causing problems.

This is the same teacher who made me count every book I read as half a book for our class reading challenge because I “read too much and it wouldn’t be fair”.

She haunts me to this day.”

3. That’s not good.

“Isn’t it funny that the one time in your life where you can fail and have almost no consequences is also the time that you are convinced that the world will end if you make one small mistake?”

4. Not encouraging…

“Schools push kids towards “success” by giving them everything ready-made.

Interest and perseverance is induced when they are told to figure out something on their own.

The skill of figuring out a problem helps throughout one’s life. Sadly, schools don’t encourage that.”

5. All about funding.

“Most schools only care about test scores because it’s how they get their funding. Realistically the whole system is geared toward grades and that does not correlate to an education.

I am very tactile when it comes to learning, so regurgitating facts back into a test was never my strong suite.

I did well enough to go to college, but I feel like most people with issues like mine instead begin to think they are stupid, or unable to learn material, because it’s not about teaching anymore it’s only about results and test scores.”

6. And on top of that…

“Not only that, but schools don’t teach sh*t.

They teach you how to memorize. I don’t remember anything I learned after I do a test on it, yet I remember various random lines from an engaging video on YouTube that I looked up because I was interested.

School is not run well whatsoever.”

7. Here’s who to get mad at.

“Schools don’t choose what they teach. Common Core determines that.

Teachers don’t want to teach what they are forced to teach. If you want to get angry at someone get mad at your school board and do some research and you’ll see how it’s basically lobbyists for giant education corporations to make sure they have exclusive rights to this district etc. It’s a business first, your child’s education is last.

And truthfully, if you think the federal government wants what is best for your children… Then you obviously never learned much yourself.”

8. The way it is.

“This is the modern US school system.

Chief culprits are standardized testing and No Child Left Behind, which do a waltz together while f*cking up the whole country.”

9. FAILURE.

“Not just fear of failure, school cultivates actual failure.

I think the bigger problem is it cultivates a fear of doing.

But yeah, the simplest way to do well in school is to already have the answers and that’s not how life works.”

10. Speaks to me.

“This 100% speaks to me as someone who always felt two steps behind compared to my peers in school.

It always took me a little while longer to grasp a concept. I always performed best when given a project over the span of a week or two to really think it through and draft my best work. Opposed to classes that quizzed me on every topic at the end of a week where I’d often fail.

Luckily I had parents at home that saw my potential and really pushed me to continue on into university and eventually graduate school (where I still have to put in many more hours of work to succeed compared to my peers).

But the fact that not every child has this support and has to lean on the school system completely is an issue when that very system fails them consistently.”

11. Even teachers agree.

“As a teacher, I completely agree.

I work in a broken system and every year my passion for teaching and learning erodes away.”

12. It’s about practice.

“This is why I always hated teachers that would grade homework (not a big project, more like a worksheet).

Why would you punish me for practicing something?

Practicing is not about doing it perfect the first time so what’s so different about math, science, etc.”

13. Affected.

“A bad teacher can really affect someone’s life.

I’m almost finished with a degree I don’t want because my teachers convinced me I wasn’t good at the subjects I was interested in.

Also, competition in university for admissions to programs that are small just motivates students to try and get the best grade possible instead of actually enjoying learning.”

Do you think school cultivates a fear of failure in kids?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Please and thank you!

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People Discuss Whether Kids Under 12 Should Have Access to the Internet

Well, this promises to be interesting…

Kids and their access to the Internet has been a pretty divisive issue among parents for quite a long time now and I don’t think it’s going anywhere…because the Internet sure isn’t!

AskReddit users debated whether young kids should have access to the Internet. Let’s see how it went.

1. No reason for it.

“They have no reason to have access to internet.

They will find information that will destroy their innocence

They will start being influenced by d*ckheads on the internet, e.g. Jake Paul.

Which will lead to a bunch of other problems.”

2. Limited access.

“They should have limited access.

When I was like 10-11 my parents monitored me but still let me have fun. Because of that I got to get into gaming, acting (online videos inspired me) and drawing (art you tubers).

Of course I found some edgy offensive humor and s*x jokes but kids still found out about those at that age before the internet.”

3. Depends on the kid.

“I think that’s because really it depends on the child, how they were raised and how naturally vigilant they are. (meaning a lot of active internet people disagree because they turned out fine)

You can’t just say all children need to be monitored, but it may be good to check on ‘em now and again just to be on the safe side.

However it is doubtful you will successfully protect a 11-13 year old from losing their ‘innocence’. This is the age where children start to get curious end will look for stuff whether the parent likes it or not.

Really I believe it’s better to provide a safe environment where they feel they aren’t patronized, but you can be sure nothing really bad happens. The alternative being them sating their curiosity will mean being forced to look for it elsewhere and god knows what they will be exposed to.”

4. Keep an eye on them.

“We monitor our kids fairly closely, and my six year old watches a ton of videos on science and nature.

He probably knows more than me about some topic because of it and it’s really made him even more interested in space, geography, etc.

He also watches videos about video games, but the good has definitely outweighed the time wasting.”

5. Has to be more specific.

“I wouldn’t agree that that is the right way to think of it. It’s like saying that kids shouldn’t read books because some books are not the correct content.

What I would agree with would be more specific. Certain material should be off limits which can be done quite easily with certain programs or firewalls etc. K9 web protection is maybe a good example.

I get what you are saying though.

But I don’t agree with cutting off their ability to watch Netflix (internet) maybe even Google cookie recipes (internet) say they like playing fireboy and watergirl (internet).”

6. Parental controls.

“I suggest parental controls/monitoring your child – it’s kind of hard to block or monitor everything. Like YouTube, there’s everything from children’s cartoons to violence.

I’m not a parent so I don’t know how much it takes to monitor a child on a device, I’m sure it’s not easy though.”

7. Gotta be careful.

“Good luck finding parents that will monitor their children by watching along with them.

Jake Paul is a famous d*ckhead that will get into your child’s head.

The classmates will try to make your kid watch his videos and in the end your kid will start to rebel you by seeing you as an overprotective chopper parent.”

8. Can be amazing.

“Watching my 9 year old son research how to mod Minecraft was amazing.

He literally uses computers and does research more effectively than many baby boomers I know.

He learned way more from that about research than he did at school.”

9. They don’t need it.

“I don’t possibly have the time to monitor their every internet usage.

Also, I don’t want or need to learn all the techno crap involved in blocking them from internet bad stuff.

I didn’t have internet at 12, they don’t need it either.”

10. Times have changed.

“I would’ve agreed with this 15 years ago when the internet was much newer.

But nowadays a lot of schools are even use the internet for learning and teaching. There’s a lot of important content that they may need to have access to.

And honestly, the internet has become a part of our daily lives like electricity is. It’s no longer a luxury or this crazy new thing.”

11. A fine line.

“Overprotectiveness can end in negative outcomes too. Teach your child what is internet, how to use it as a tool and only as a tool.

Internet is a means to an end. It gives you basically 70-80% of human knowledge at the end of your fingertips. Helps you keep in touch with people who are tens or hundreds kilometers away.

Can give you entertainment. But it can also show you things toxic, or be used as a weapon.”

12. As simple as that.

“Children should just be monitored by their parents. It’s really that simple.

There are many tools at a parents disposal to monitor child usage of a computer and of a web browser. If the parents are doing their job then the child won’t have access to anything detrimental to their psyche.

My child has learned so much that I am not capable of teaching him through monitored use of the internet.”

What do you think about this issue?

Sound off in the comments!

We’d love to hear from you!

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People Discuss the Statement, “I’m Not Responsible for What Your Kids Hear Online, Even if I’m the One Saying It.”

The Internet and social media have completely revolutionized how we do almost everything in our lives.

The way we interact with each other, the way we do business…all of it has been impacted by this technology that was not available to us about three decades ago.

And, as you already know, the atmosphere online can be toxic, offensive, and troublesome, especially to kids.

So is it up to parents to shield their kids from this kind of material? Or do individuals have a responsibility to keep it clean and civil online?

Here’s what AskReddit user had to say about this.

1. Up to the parents.

“It’s the parents’ responsibility to protect their children from the Internet.

I say a lot of f*cked up sh*t while gaming and if you don’t block voice chat on games that your eight year old plays, that is your fault not mine.’

2. Agree to an extent…

“I agree to an extent.

Being on twitch, and most internet places, at 12 and under is usually against TOS. If the parent is already doing the streaming or they are internet savvy and know the ins and outs, then I feel it could be ok to stream as long as the parent and child are doing it together.

With the parent very strictly monitoring all communication first. And teaching the kid what is acceptable/unacceptable on the internet.

But I do also agree adults should not have to worry about censoring themselves in online interactions. As long as they aren’t harassing or engaging in illegal content, adults should not be compelled to cater to children.

Which is why I think it’s absolutely stupid that YouTube has been marking vids as unfriendly for advertisers if they have cuss words.”

3. MY JOB.

“My son wants to stream and do tournaments and stuff with me cuz both me and my partner play. We told him no.

Also he isn’t very good at it yet but he has potential. And the last and probably biggest reason is he’s f*cking annoying and people will tell him.

You’re right it is my job to monitor his sh*t not your job to watch what you say and I have had f*cking kids tell him they’ll murder me not realizing I’m in the party chat playing too.”

4. Keep an eye on them.

“Parents shouldn’t assume the internet is kid friendly and should vet what their kids are allowed to do online, especially online games where other gamers are over 18 and can say whatever they want.

That said, for kid friendly websites or direct message chats to an underage person, the overage person is responsible.”

5. Not kid-friendly.

“I grew up in the 2000s with the internet.

The internet was and never will be kid friendly, up to parents to implement parental controls.”

6. Nasty stuff.

“I always thought this was obvious till my kids were playing among us.

Sure they have the words bleeped out but they can still be exposed to nasty stuff.

I guess I still feel this way but want them to be able to experience fun online games without the smut.”

7. Do the research.

“If it’s a game marketed to kids and not like Fortnite but like specifically for kids then I hold you responsible.

Because in that case the parents did their research and you just played the wrong game.”

8. It can be toxic.

“I simply don’t let my kids play adult oriented games or any games with voice chat because I know some people kids AND adults can be toxic over chat.

It totally sucks for the kids who just want to chat and have fun. Toxic folks kinda ruin it for everyone and themselves.”

9. Cowardly excuse.

“Why do you feel not responsible for what others hear you saying?

Sounds like a cowardly excuse to me.

I mean sure, you are indeed not responsible for other peoples parenting to protect their child from toxic areas on the internet.

But it is still you “saying f*cked up sh*t” degrading everyones else experience. It is your responsibility keeping those places toxic.

I am not a kid. I still love to play online. I love anonymous team play interactions with strangers. But I am grossed out by the general low standards of communication in most games putting me off.”

10. Mute yourself.

“If I hear a kid, I’ll just mute them most probably and mute myself too cuz I f*cking hate children’s voices while gaming.

It just doesn’t go well with me but ik others who could just swear or say profane things while the kids is there.

I don’t give a f*ck, there’s a reason the games are rated a certain rating y’know. + Toxicity should be a well known thing nowadays.”

11. Take responsibility.

“Ultimately, parents need to take more responsibility for what their children see, hear and do.

When I was 13, I had already spent the last couple of years begging my parents to let me play WoW after watching them run around playing vanilla, but they always said not until I was older. When they finally caved, I got the biggest “people on the internet are weird” kind of talk.

A lot of the current generation of kids would have parents that spoke in chat rooms, on msn messenger, had a myspace account and probably stalked something fierce on omegle. So how are there so many parent oblivious to the imminent chaos found on any kind of online game?”

12. Good one!

“Here’s an unpopular opinion for ya…

You could also TRY to be a better person?”

13. Pretty crazy.

“I am in a PC builders group on facebook. The amount of parents that will join and ask:

“What is a good mic and headset for my son? He is 8 years old and plays Fortnite. He is really good so I want to help him start streaming. He wants a separate mic and headset but I’m not sure what that means.”

ITS INSANE.

And every time I try to say something like:

“I don’t mean to tell you how to parent, but I’m 32 and I don’t even want to get into streaming because it can be a pretty toxic environment. And recently there has been a lot of issues with younger kids being groomed by weird older and more popular streamers.

I highly suggest holding off on letting an 8 year old stream. The internet is very vast and you don’t know who they will start talking to and ultimately “entertaining”. They can see your son, tell your son to do things, and you son might do the things if he thinks he will get money or tricked by other means.

I highly highly suggest looking into what is involved in streaming. If it were my son I would not let them stream at 8 years old… if they were 16 I would consider it but it would have to be where I can monitor it… even at like 16.”

And that always gets a negative response about how they know all about streaming and what it is… yeah then why couldn’t you ask a streamer what mic to buy your son?

Clowns raising clowns.”

What do you think about this issue?

Please share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Thanks in advance!

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Is It Wrong for Young Men to Opt Out of Society and Focus on Video Games? Here’s How People Responded.

I’m not personally into gaming, but I have some friends who definitely are, and I will admit that the ones who do it spend A TON OF TIME playing video games.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I guess it depends on the person. To me, it doesn’t sound very appealing, but I guess it’s a lot better than some of the other things men could be doing in their spare time…

So, is it bad for men to focus on video games and hobbies instead of “traditional” things like relationships, marriage, and families?

Here’s what AskReddit users had to say about this.

1. Opting out.

“There are a lot of whiny articles recently about how men don’t go to university at the same rate as young women, don’t work as many hours as they used to, and in general participate less in society and rather play video games or something.

This naturally comes at the expense of traditional life attainments such as working yourself to death, having an insanely expensive wedding, and being the sole provider for a family that will eventually kick you out.

If you read through these articles, you will find that the theme is men bad because they refuse to play the social role written for them. It’s mostly from the perspective of how this creates problems for women in the long run, but still that’s the core of it.

Contrary to what these journalists would have you believe, I think these young men are acting completely rationally when opting out of this life script. There just aren’t enough incentives to play this role, it is too risky and too exhausting, and I can personally see how one would derive way more satisfaction from hanging out with ones mates, playing video games, or being in a band. Young men don’t owe society anything.

We should just live and let live, and let people enjoy their lives in the way they want to, instead of judging them.”

2. Not worth the effort.

“As a young white man who did want all those neat lil’ things like marriage, family, house and all that jazz, I’ve found the reward not worth the effort.

The cost of living is just too damn high. If I did get the family and the house, I’d never see them since I’d be working all the time to ‘provide’…

What’s the point in taking on all that responsibility just work myself to death and not even be around?

I never see my brothers or friends with families anymore… and their families dont see them either.”

3. An interesting POV.

“It was practically always like this for men, only before the modern age men didn’t have a choice.

There was nothing else besides the only possible life plan of starting to work hard while you were still a kid and keep doing it until you died, spending more time on work than on your loved ones – spending more time on work FOR your loved ones. (Feminists call this “privilege” and think women were oppressed by them not being forced into this role.)

If you think about it men sacrificed their dreams, aspirations, their health and their lives for their families, and all they got in return was …their families, and some respect.

Modern ideologies demolished that all and when they still expect men to work like oxen they offer literally nothing in return, just shame and ridicule and hostility.”

4. From a divorced guy.

“I’m Gen X, divorced with kid, ok 9-5 job, rent small apartment in a big city and I’m perfectly content playing video games nights and weekends.

I don’t desire to do anything (or anyone…) else. I’m also happier now with no responsibilities to be a husband and help maintain a household. Plus, my kid is now old enough to play video games with me.

We have a lot of fun together that way. Life is good, no complaints.”

5. It’s up to you.

“Whether you’ve been married or not, if you work a steady job and support yourself, you’re entitled to do whatever you like. If that means chilling out at home in your own free time playing video games, then so be it.

I have a steady partner, no kids (just 2 cats). We both work and split everything 50/50. In our free time, we’re chilling, playing games, doing whatever we fancy.

As far as I’m concerned we’ve got it good. Neither of us wants kids either.”

6. In a weird place.

“Also Gen X. Also a gamer. Single & never married. No kids.

I’m making pretty good money now but I’m in this weird place. The responsible thing is to never spend money and prepare for retirement. I don’t really like working nor do I feel any sense of accomplishment from it. Sometimes I’ve had a community/tribe from work that was valuable to me but I haven’t had that in a decade.

I have two options; I can retire now and live as frugally as I have up to this point for the rest of my life or I can stay on this treadmill for another 20 years and retire to umm… no clue what. I’ve defined my life by living frugally and I’m not sure I’d know what to do with ‘all that money’.

I don’t like old people in general and all the opportunities to settle down and have a family are now long gone. I squandered my youth under same jaded theory that bettering myself would be some magic bullet to avoid dying alone. Now I’ve bettered myself and I have money.

I spent my whole life trying to avoid being a stereotype and now I’m a creepy old man stereotype. Maybe I’ll be part of the coming ‘Creepy Old Gamer’ stereotype in a year or two.”

7. Stop policing me!

“It’s strange how everyone is obsessed with policing what men do on their spare time.

I want to stay in (especially in winter), play some games, and save money (because bills and mortgage).

Other people stay in and watch their Netflix, reality tv, gossip tv, news, sports… but somehow my gaming is an issue?”

8. Breaking norms.

“It’s so strange how some of the same media outlets that encourage women to “break social norms” and to go against society to be who they want to be, are now criticizing men for doing just that.

I’m not going to take either side here on whether social norms are good to follow or not, but at least be consistent with whichever viewpoint you take.”

9. Not a good thing.

“Well, Japan has a lot of this going on and they are practically losing an entire generation of self-imposed monks.

This isn’t boding well for Japan as a whole.”

10. Content with myself.

“The last girl I went on a date with explained to me that she’s been on 55 first dates in six months!!

Here’s the thing… I am financially, emotionally, and otherwise stable. I have everything a woman would want in a life partner. I am in shape, I work hard and make a lot of money, I have hobbies that I’ve turned into effective side hustles, I travel and socialize, I would say I’m at least an 8 to 9 in attractiveness, and so on.

She wasn’t having it though… Like what does this woman expect in men that she can’t find a partner in 56 opportunities? I think this is a big issue, because it shows to me that woman’s expectations are getting absolutely bat sh*t crazy.

As a business man, I look at the value proposition and the risk/reward in committing to these expectations and it has turned me into a player, that runs through women like they are candy. If I live on never married but have the opportunity to have s*x with who I please, I would be completely content with myself.”

11. More power to you.

“Yeah i live that way because of a series of crippling mental problems but i know a load of people from college both men and women who do it completely by choice since they just don’t see the value in running the rat race like their parents did.

If you can live a happy life doing the bare minimum you need to do to keep yourself fed, sheltered, and happy then more power to you.”

12. A female perspective.

“30 year old chick here, my life is work, gaming, gym and motorsport. I’ve had my tubes tied and can’t ever see myself getting married because screw that level of stress and responsibility.

Most of my friends are single guys basically living the same lifestyle and I can totally see why it’s so appealing. A few of them would love to settle down and have kids but chicks aren’t interested because of their lifestyles, which makes me laugh as most of these chicks don’t want to be stay at home mums and give up their careers.

You’d think a chill guy that would be happy taking care of the house and kids would be perfect for them.”

13. Here’s a hot take for ya.

“It’s interesting that when men start to uphold some self-respect and not compromise their standards we’re called commitment-phobic.

I see this a lot with my female friends in that 28-35 age range who continuously complain about men not wanting to “stick it out” with them or are “intimidated” by their confidence but in reality they still expect the men they date to tolerate behaviors and attitudes that men would tolerate when they were in their early to mid 20s.

They’ve made little to no evolution in their character and still subscribe to an immature doctrine of how men should just tolerate and condone their behaviors just because “that’s what men do” and fail to realize the hypocrisy in such a misandrist take.

Add to the fact that men are becoming more accustomed to having our grievances ignored and unsupported by the opposite s*x and society as a whole, we’ve been able to find peace and happiness in our solitude and in things that provide us the happiness we don’t receive and get from the opposite s*x.

Recently a woman who I had been sleeping with for a couple months asked me to date her and I told her I prefer we stay friends. She insisted I tell her why, why I would turn down such an opportunity – “I mean I’d date me” were her words.

I finally caved and told her I’m turned off by the fact she sh*ts on men on a weekly basis on her IG story and having such a bias and negative attitude toward my gender is not the type of thing I want to endorse in a potential partner.

I even asked if she would ever be interested in dating a man who spoke negatively about women on a weekly basis and she said, I sh*t you not, “No but that’s different cause what I say about guys is true”.

And this woman isn’t an outlier to the issue, these type of women are rampant in the dating pool and they are very good at grabbing the attention of men because they can present themselves initially as interesting, intelligent, and open-minded but they turn out to be one-dimensional, ignorant, and arrogant. I blame Amber Rose.”

Okay, now we want to hear from you.

What do you think of this issue?

Sound off in the comments and tell us what you think. Thank you!

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People Debate if Nuclear Energy Is the Best Option for the Good of the Environment

Whenever the word “nuclear” is mentioned, some people seem to get nervous because of the negative connotation it has.

But maybe nuclear energy is the ideal component we need moving forward when it comes to concerns about the environment?

I really don’t know much of anything about this subject, so I’m gonna leave it to the folks on AskReddit to debate this one for me.

Let’s take a look at what they had to say about it.

1. Here’s a hot take.

“The amount of long term waste with solar and wind is undeniably higher than with nuclear energy. Nuclear power plants in America that are not on fault lines are safe and are designed to be impossible to melt down (really).

A decentralized power system will always be more expensive than a centralized one, and we have the ability to make our grid carbon neutral in a matter of years. What are the downsides?

Why are politicians ignoring this obvious option. I’m not even talking fusion, just fission.”

2. Fear mongering.

“Of course people don’t talk about it, they hear the word nuclear and they think of Hiroshima, Chernobyl, Nagasaki.

The idea of nuclear energy has been pushed to be something feared.”

3. Fired up.

“This gets me f*cking mad.

Chernobyl was an incredibly outdated reactor already at the time it exploded, there was a human and structural mistake and were talking about a time when you were allowed to smoke inside f*cking hospitals, let’s be honest it would never happen again.

And Fukushima just makes me laugh cause it was literally caused by a freaking tsunami.”

4. Perceived as dangerous.

“You can compare it with air traffic: Aeroplanes are statistically the safest method of traveling, but when something goes wrong there are hundreds of dead people, so we perceive it as dangerous, altough it is actually the safest way of travelling.

The same goes for nuclear energy: It is the safest and most efficient way to produce energy, even when you include (very rare) terrible cases such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.”

5. The best option.

“It’s all about energy capacity per acre of land. I heard a Ted Talk and the scientist was saying that to have the UK use only solar, it would require about 1/3 of the land to be covered in solar cells.

Plus, the solar system installed in the Mojave Desert which impact the Desert Tortoise habitat. Wind farms actually ensnare bats, birds, etc. Both however, only work on small portions of land (where the sun shines or the wind blows), but even these power sources are subject to mother nature.

Nuclear on the other hand is incredibly energy dense per acre. If we had invested in nuclear years ago, we would be on generation 250. Also, nuclear energy only produces steam. And finally, we have the land use available to store nuclear energy should we finally get a national plan on how to deal with it.

Again, it’s what options do you have today to solve climate change – warts and all?

Nuclear is the best.”

6. Fission and fusion.

“People are too afraid that a nuclear bomb will go off or something, which can’t possibly happen at a power plant.

Fission and fusion are the only renewables energy types we should even bother pursuing.”

7. Those politicians…

“The 1980s scared people away, once the majority of people who remember those times are dead, nuclear will be easier to push.

Nuclear being bad was the truth for them, people don’t like when you questions something they’ve fundamentally believed for decades, they will just push the discussion away.

Politicians ain’t discussing nuclear because they know this.”

8. Some good info.

“Nuclear plants in their traditional forms have numerous technical issues that can end up prematurely shuttering the plant. Graphic cracking for example.

There’s no denying that nuclear energy is great for base load generation normally provided by thermal fossil fuel generators but the cost of building nukes in their most updated and safe hi-tech forms is enormous compared to adding renewable capacity and using hydro storage or battery with renewables!

Obviously not every energy system is the same but in modern economies by the time FF thermal generation shifts off we could engineer completely renewable systems!”

9. Stigmatized.

“Chernobyl kinda put a stick in it. However it was because of faulty construction.

Nuclear energy provides constant, clean and efficient energy. If you want green energy, go Nuclear.

Today’s process is much safer with more knowledge and understanding in past mistakes. It is the best way to go forward. It’s because of either misinformation, fear and the general media/public view on it.”

10. We need new options.

“Yes nuclear has it’s benefits and fission is simple enough that I understood it when I was 10. And safety management is done very well, using the same principles as with aviation.

But the downsides to the rare but certain f*ck ups are so serious that they change nations and the planet. And we still don’t know the long term effects of all the strontium and other fall out chemicals we all carry around in us, along with every other mammal.

Are you are aware that our governments lied their rectums off about this, ruining lives and careers? And still are? That doesn’t necessarily negate the possibility but reasonable people hesitate in the face of interest-groups-fueled government f*ckery.

Your statement about centralized vs decentralized power systems is bold.

And the long term waste – what are you talking about? And the energy involved in the entirety of each cycle (and hence, the total cost) … are you are aware of how they compare?

Ultimately we need new and better nuclear power options in general and the ultimate aim is to get to a position of having endless energy available that is cheaper than water. Development depends on it. And the trick will be creating power cycles that remove the additional carbon and other compounds from the system over time.”

11. Not the way forward.

“The future of the energy industry is not nuclear.

I’ve spent my career so far building and running electricity companies, and there are a few simple facts that have become apparent:

In modern, deregulated electricity industries, off-grid low voltage generation (think household solar panels) is rapidly reaching cost/performance parity with on-grid power. Investment in storage-based supply in batteries (as opposed to peak generation such as fossil fuel) is f*cking massive – renewables and batteries are projected to take 80% of the $15.1 trillion forecast investment in new power generation.

We will reach a tipping point in about 2035 where transporting electricity (colossal steel pylons and cables across countries) is more expensive than generating it and storing it close to the consumer What this means: Tomorrow’s electricity grids are distributed, made of many small nodes of generation and consumption, and not made of giant power plants with long inefficient transmission lines.

Today’s solar and wind plants can be spun up to utility scale in under a year. A nuclear plant has historically taken over 8 years to build and cost massive up-front capital. Nuclear plants are also designed to have operating lifetimes of 60+ years. Investing in nuclear is not only making a bet that nuclear will stay at the top of the price/kWh curve, but also that it will be there in a decade’s time and then stay there for half a century.

What this means: Nuclear is not only a losing bet based on current economic forecasts, but it’s an absolutely colossal bet that ties you down for 70 years whether you win or lose.

Pro-nuclear research is tainted by pro-nuclear lobbies and governments. Schrader-Frechette found that the majority of research that has pro-nuclear conclusions is funded by parties with conflicts of interest.

Fossil fuels are dying anyway (never fast enough, sadly), so the true question is not if we go renewable but which renewable to take, and it seems we can’t take for granted that pro-nuclear attitudes are based in unbiased critical thought. What this means: It may not even be true that nuclear energy is a good option – nevermind the best option – if we cannot trust the research.

Now, this sucks for me. I’m a huge physics fanboy, and thorium reactors and fission are absolutely my favourite ideas for future energy production. I’m attracted to space-age nuclear ideals at a very emotional level – I know how it feels – but the facts just aren’t panning out that way.

In the end, it’s not true that politicians are ignoring the “obvious” nuclear option. This is a very serious issue that very, very many of the worlds smartest are working on, and the sensible option is already the one we’re taking.

Turns out scientists are largely pretty good at what they do. Who’d have thought?”

12. Fearful of nuclear.

“The fossil feul industry obviously has a vested interest to keep people fearful of nuclear. They’ll spend lots of money on add campaigns covered with nuclear bomb explosions and zero facts.

I read recently that nuclear deaths per year is even less than some other green energies, wind iirc and that has to be a wake up call for those that are fearful. As for fossil fuel, its a no contest in comparison.

Fossil fuel has powerful lobbies, powerful corps and the republican party receives about 90% of their donations or something.”

What do you think about this?

Is nuclear energy the way to go for the good of our environment?

Talk to us in the comments and share your thoughts. Thanks!

The post People Debate if Nuclear Energy Is the Best Option for the Good of the Environment appeared first on UberFacts.

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Normal Words That Can Be Pronounced Two Very Different Ways

No one would argue the fact that English is a tough language. It beats up other languages in dark alleys and goes through their pockets for loose vocab – at least, that’s the word on the street.

Which is why it’s not surprising there are several words that are spelled exactly the same, and mean the same thing, but are pronounced differently depending on the speaker.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Fun, right?

At least if you know about these 10 words in advance, you’ll see them coming.

10. Data

It can be pronounced DAH-ta or DAY-ta, and is defined as “individual facts, statistics, or items of information.”

Officially, any word that comes directly from Latin (“data” does), and the stressed syllable ends in a vowel, then the vowel should have a long sound in English.

So DAY-ta is technically correct.

9. Laboratory

Do you go to work in the LAB-ore-a-tor-ee or the la-BORE-a-tree?

Easy – are you British? If so, you use the latter, and the Americans, the former.

8. Vase

There’s VAYS (rhymes with “lace”) and VAHZ (rhymes with “Oz”), but in the modern world, the latter pronunciation often comes off as too refined or “snooty” for most ears.

It is, of course, popular in Britain.

7. Mature

This one has more than two pronunciations – mah-CHURR, mah-CHOOR, and ma-TYOOR.

It used to be that pronunciations with the long ‘T’ were preferred and the others seen as lowbrow, but that’s shifted since the 1980s.

6. Tomato

This one has been made famous by a song, and New Englanders, especially, will cling to the tuh-MAH-toes with their cold, dead fingers.

The rest of us enjoy a nice summer tuh-MAY-toe and less pretension.

5. Appalachia

Have you visited Appa-LAY-sha or Appa-LATCH-a, my friends?

This one is probably dependent on which side of the Mason-Dixon line you call home. Northerners are more likely to pronounce the middle syllable like “lay,” while Southerners choose “latch.”

4. Gala

Will you be attending the GAY-luh or the GAL-uh, my good woman?

Well, properly it should be GAY-luh, since the stressed syllable ends in a vowel, but since the 1930s, either version is understood and accepted.

3. Leisure

LEH-shure or LEE-shure again comes down to South vs. North, with most Southerners preferring the British pronunciation that rhymes with “pleasure” and others opting to pronounce it so it rhymes with “seizure.”

2. Electoral

Where you you put the stress on this word – is it el-LECK-toral or el-ek-tore-ul? Maybe el-leck-TOR-al?

There’s no right answer, but the “uncultivated” latter choice is becoming more and more popular.

1. Celtic

Even though the traditional and native pronunciation is KEL-tick, the word came to English through French, which utilizes the softer ‘c’, resulting in SELL-tick.

Classical Latin would also demand the hard ‘c,’ but I would try convincing any Boston Celtics fans to change their ways, if I were you.

Good luck in the world of reading aloud. It’s designed to terrifying you!

Do you have a memory of making a mistake reading aloud? Share so we can all cringe along with you!

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