Category: World Culture

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15 Things We Are Definitely NOT in ‘The Golden Age’ Of

When historians look back at this era, how will they define it? Most likely not by reason or thought. Am I the only one who feels like we’re trapped in an age of stupidity?

AskReddit users went on the record and revealed what we are NOT in ‘The Golden Age’ of.

1. Very true

“Boxing.”

2. No common ground

“Water cooler talk at work. Ten years ago if I saw something incredible I would talk to people about it at work the next day, now nobody watches the same thing so those conversations don’t happen.”

3. Fall of the mall

“Shopping Malls, they are super dead and getting a little deader every day.”

4. Tragedy

“Fishing.

We’ve killed so many fish it’s a f*cking tragedy. By some estimates we’ve killed 90% of the world’s shark population alone. Reading old books and running into offhand comments about fishing is depressing as hell.

I love seafood, but we need like a decade-long commercial fishing hiatus followed by much stricter limits and better regulations. There are a bunch of really dumb rules right now; bycatch is wasted, for example. Let’s get by on sport-caught and farmed seafood for a while and let the fishes come back.

Fishing now is nothing whatever like it was even fifty years ago. A century ago it was like another planet. And this is coming from a kiteboarder, somebody to whom sharks are a genuine threat.”

5. Muscle men

“Bodybuilding. Go look at the recent Mr. Olympia winners and compare that to the days of Schwarzenegger. Night and day.”

6. Damn shoelaces

“Shoe fastenings. We’re still using primitive shoelaces just like all of those grim people in the earliest photographs, standing there in their tall uncomfortable black boots, out in the barnyard next to the well, with the tethered mule standing dumbly by the family, all of whom look angry or like they want to die instead of face yet another brutal day trying to wrestle their sustenance out of the unforgiving ground.

The well is gone, the mule is gone, even the barnyard is gone, and we sit in our shiny air-conditioned towers talking to each other across a networked world swarmed with satellites, yet still we wear those same laces.

We tried in the 80s with Velcro; every kid had a pair, or at least some hybrid hi-tops. But Big Shoelace crushed it behind the scenes, relegating it to the shoes of wriggling infants and arthritic seniors in the painful twilight of their mobility.

So here we are still enslaved, still tethered to Big Shoelace, suckling at its teat as the only means of sustenance within the radius allowed us. We are the mules now. We will never escape. We will never escape. Congress has a golden shoelace around its neck and we will never escape. Perhaps it’s a golden age after all, just not for the many.”

7. Long gone neon

“Neon signs

Ok, people are saying that “hey, you’ve clearly never been to X, there’s a ton there!” While you’re right, I’ve never been to Austin or Vegas, that doesn’t mean that we’re still in the golden age. There’s a great documentary that was actually on the Reddit front page about the industry dying in Asia (I believe it’s been linked to in this thread multiple times). There are a lot out in the world, but there’s almost no new ones being made, and not like they used to be. I would say the golden age for neon was in the 80s. LEDs are the future and that’s kinda sad.”

8. We need an upgrade

“Toilets. Either make them all flush automatically or make them where you have to push the handle down.

If it’s one of those automatic ones, please make it smart enough to not flush while I’m just sitting down or mid poop. I like to wipe down the toilet seat before I sit on it and throw that toilet paper in the water to avoid any splash backs . Half the time it doesn’t work because the toilet will just flush before I even sit down.

And fix the bathroom stalls. No one should be able to make eye contact with me through the crack of the door as they walk in and I’m in the stall talking a poop.”

9. Any Brits care to weigh in?

“The British Empire.”

10. Is it in the past or the future?

“Space Exploration.”

11. A lot of people are sorry

“The Halo franchise. Sorry ? “

12. Interesting take

“Alchemy!”

13. On the decline

“Kmart!”

14. Not a bad thing

“Small pox.”

15. What’s gonna happen?

“Gene manipulation.

CRISPR is at its infancy, and won’t reach its full potential for a few decades I’m guessing. Who knows what could happen when we reach that point?”

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10+ People Discuss the Myths That People Really Need to Stop Believing

We’ve all grown up with some kind of old wives tales or family superstitions and these AskReddit users shared the ones they want to be exposed as LIES.

1. Still…don’t do it

“The fact that chocolate is insta-death for dogs.

I still wouldn’t recommend feeding your dog chocolate, but if your dog licks something chocolate it’s very unlikely to die. It’s more often than you’d probably expect that I’m hanging with someone and they freak out over their dog getting a small bit of chocolate. It’s obnoxious and unnecessary.”

2. Beware

“Using a phone while your car is being fueled doesn’t cause an explosion.”

3. Not a believer

“The the relative alignment of stars that are lightyears away from Earth have anything to do with someone’s personality.”

4. Might be true for a lot of people

“You only use 10% of your brain”
Then again if you believe in that myth, you actually might only be using 10%.”

5. Not true

“That when a snake stretches out its body near a human or animal it means it is “sizing up its prey”. This is a complete myth with no basis in reality, snakes are ambush predators and if they had to stretch out to size up prey they’d never get a meal and would risk being injured by its prey.”

6. My bad

“That wrong=stupid. I feel like a lot of the issues with the world today is that no one wants to be wrong, making them look stupid. Being wrong is how you learn, and no one will belittle you if you say “whoops, I was wrong. My bad.” “

7. Don’t do that

“Just saw this on here the other day and nearly stroked over it:

DO NOT PUT BUTTER ON SKIN BURNS.

If you do, you’re gonna have a bad time.”

8. Weed talk

“That weed has no negative consequences around it and can’t possibly cause any harm whatsoever.

BTW I’m all for legalization but weed worshippers tend to spout off nonsense about it.”

9. Charging

“To discharge electronics completely before recharging.

This is only true for the older nickel style batteries, but almost everything produced today has lithium-ion batteries. A lithium battery’s ability to hold a charge DECREASES the more times it’s charged and discharged.

The best case scenario to keep your phone’s battery in good shape is to charge that MF’er as much as humanly possible, not to let it die on you.”

10. Lie!

“SHAVING DOES’T MAKE HAIR GROW THICKER.”

11. I hope not

“Cracking knuckles is bad for you.”

12. Autism

“Being autistic, I have a few myths regarding autism I’d like to clear up:

Vaccines don’t cause autism. No-one knows for certain what autism is caused by, but vaccines aren’t one of them. The signs of autism simply occur at the same age when most kids get their vaccines.

You might as well say that autism is caused by potty-training.
Not every autistic person is like Rain Man or Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Autism has a lot of common traits (stimming, lack of social awareness,hyper-fixations, hypersensitivity, etc), which manifest differently from person to person. Some exhibit a few very obvious traits, others have several minor traits. It’s like a big buffet where everyone takes different numbers and amounts of the same group of food.

Even if you give an autistic person your firstborn, they can’t spin straw into gold for you. Autistic people can only spin straw into copper. Not as valuable, but much more versatile in industrial applications.”

13. Cinco de Mayo

“Cinco de Mayo is NOT “Independence Day” for the country of Mexico.

It is actually the celebration of the victory of the Mexican Army over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.”

14. A lot of people believe this

“That you have to wait 24 hours before filing a missing person report. Do not do this! If somebody has gone missing, report it as soon as you realize so that action can be taken immediately and the person can be found before it is too late.”

15. Myth

“Nobody is putting drugs into Halloween candy.”

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10+ Times College Professors Were the Actual Best

They say that those who can’t do, teach – and I’ve always thought that if being a writer doesn’t pan out, being a college professor sounds pretty good. Flexible hours, you deal with your students directly instead of having to put up with their parents, and you still get longer holidays.

I mean, what’s not to love — you know, aside from the ass-kissing, publish-or-perish mentality, and the politics that go hand-in-hand with higher education?

No, but seriously, these 11 college professors totally confirm my assumption that their jobs are awesome more often than not, and that the profession attracts the best sort of people.

#1. It’s best not to ask too many questions.

Image Credit: Twitter

#2. It’s cool.

Image Credit: Twitter

#3. Yo.

Image Credit: Tumblr

#4. Even if he’s not in, he’s in…poster-style.

Image Credit: Reddit

#5. And possibly hungover.

Image Credit: Twitter

#6. You’ve got to meet kids on their level.

Image Credit: Twitter

#7. Buckle up, because this ain’t high school.

Image Credit: Tumblr

#8. Email is hard, yo.

Image Credit: Twitter

#9. This made me lol.

Image Credit: Twitter

#10. He’s just trying to connect.

Image Credit: Twitter

#11. Critique’s still valid, tho.

Image Credit: Twitter

I’m off to apply to grad school!

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Man Who Refused to Give His Seat to a Pregnant Woman Gets Exactly What He Deserves

Let’s face it, chivalry is definitely a lost art these days. People just aren’t as nice as they used to be. If you’ve any doubts as to the truth of those words, just check out this true story by Twitter user Brydie Lee-Kennedy, an 8-months-pregnant woman who did not hesitate to share her tale of woe with the world.

Photo Credit: Twitter

Basically, there was one seat left, she was exhausted and carrying extra weight, and some guy thought his bag (and hand) needed the space more than she did. So, she sat on his hand and his bag, which apparently he still refused to move so they spent the rest of the ride in some sort of silent standoff.

Plenty of other women chimed in to share their stories of similar occurrences. All of them are my heroes, and braver than I would have been in a similar situation, though the discomfort caused by late pregnancy often causes one to lose one’s filter.

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

This one, though, is my favorite. It honestly needs to be a scene in a movie.

Photo Credit: Twitter

Long story short? Don’t be stupid, rude and obtuse. Pay attention to the people around you who aren’t having the best of days.

And get off your ass if a giant pregnant woman is standing near you.

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10 of the Most Brutal Revenge Stories in History

Confession time: I’m actually a bit of a history nerd (or buff, if you prefer). History is full of so many interesting moments if you know where to look.

So go ahead and thank these 10 people in advance for telling some pretty amazing, true historical stories, this time about revenge.

#1. The best and the wisest out of the way

“Princess Olga of Kiev. Her husband was murdered by the Drevlians. So she was in charge of the city. Then the Drevlians wanted her to marry their prince. They sent 20 of their best men to convince her to marry their prince. She had them buried alive.

She then sent a message that she accepted the proposal, but required the Drevlians to send their best men to accompany her on her journey in order for the common people to accept the transition.

They sent the best and wisest men who governed their land. When they arrived she sent them up and offered them a bath house to get cleaned up and relax after the long journey. Once inside she barred the doors and burned it down.

With the best and wisest out of the way, she invited more of them over for a funeral service. And somehow not sensing the trap, 5,000 of them showed up. Once they were good and drunk she had her men kill all of them.

She then placed their city under siege. And after several days she asked for 3 pigeons and 3 sparrows from each household, claiming she didn’t want to burden their city any further. The people happily complied.

Olga then had her soldiers each take a bird and attach a burning coal to it (somehow) and released the birds and they all flew back to the city and it burned to the ground.

Damn it’s good to be gangster.”

#2. The Indian Slayer

“Maybe not the most satisfying but, the story of Tom Quick the Indian Slayer is pretty insane and fucked up. The Quick’s were one of the first white families to settle on the Delaware river near Milford PA. Initially they had good relation with the natives but after a group of them killed Tom Quick Sr., Jr. swore he would never rest until he killed the entire Lenape tribe, who were responsible. He supposedly killed 99 of them in his lifetime and on his death bed asked his son to bring him one more so he could make it an even 100. His son refused but after his death members of the Lenape stole his body, cut it up and sent parts to all the neighboring clans. Each clan had a pow-wow where they burnt their part of the body as a celebration of the death of their long time foe. The only problem was Tom Quick died of small pox and these pow-wow effectively spread the illness to nearly the entirely of the Lenape people. He swore he wouldn’t rest until he destroyed the tribe and in death, he did just that.

Here’s a write up from 1851 that paints him as a hero: http://www.jrbooksonline.com/HTML-docs/tom_quick_1851.htm”

#3. The men who killed his father

“Frank Eaton, who became a sharpshooter when he was 15 by outshooting everyone at a nearby fort, then personally hunted and shot down all the men who killed his father. One of the men was killed before Eaton could get to him, so he went to his funeral to make sure he was dead.”

#4. Long game revenge

“Count of monte Cristo is a pretty good one. That book is practically a standard for long game revenge.”

#5. A queen’s vengeance

“Boudica.

(According to Tacitus’ version of events which are much more fucking metal).

Boudica, as queen of the Iceni after the death of her husband King Prasutagus, saw the Romans rape her daughters, confiscate her lands and then publicly flog her. So doing the sensible thing, she raises an army and marches on Camulodunum (Colchester) in AD60.

She massacres the population, methodically burns the city, and displays the bodies for miles around. After effectively destroying the IX Legion sent to relieve it, she marches on Londinium (London). This she also burns, to such an extent that a fine red layer of pottery fragments and brick ash is visible under London’s streets, and then does the same to Verulamium (St. Albans).

Boudica is only finally defeated by Governor Suetonius Paulinus, who marches down from his campaigns in Wales to halt her at the Battle of Wattling Street in AD. 61. By this point though, she’d killed around 80,000 Roman citizens and auxiliaries.”

#6. Without retribution

“The Cask of Amontillado, specifically because of the main character’s insistence on not only having revenge, but having it without retribution, and such that Fortunado knew that it was him who did it.”

#7. Not history, but it’s too good to leave out

“The giving tree.”

#8. Too sore to defend themselves

“The story of Dinah from the Old Testament.

TL;DR- Dude rapes girl, then asks her family to marry her. Family says sure, but all of your people need to be circumsized first.

After the circumcisions happened, the family fell on them and slaughtered the men while they were too sore to defend themselves.”

#9. Rural American Punisher

“Buford Hayse Pusser, he was sheriff, they killed his wife and he went on a one man war to rid his county of all crime. He was basically rural America Punisher.”

#10. A pretty good one

“Titus Andronicus is a pretty good one and an overall interesting book.”

I’m off to fall into a Wikipedia hole!

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15 Travel Junkies Share the Places You Must Visit Before You Die

They say the best way to understand the world is to travel around and see as much of it as you can. Having grown up crisscrossing the glove due to my father’s job, I have to say I agree. While sitting around in trains, planes, and buses may not always be pleasant, the destination and experience is always worth it in my opinion.

And just in case you’re making a bucket list or planning a trip (jealous!) here are 15 spots seasoned travelers say you can’t miss.

#1. So much beauty.

“I’ve been to 49/50 states so people ask me a lot which ones were my favorites (just missing Alaska). People always scoff when I say South Dakota is up there, there’s so much beauty in that state it doesn’t get the credit it deserves. The badlands and the black hills. And the corn palace is just a bonus.

Honorable mention: Wyoming for the same reasons as above.”

#2. Easily the coolest place I’ve ever been.

“Edinburgh, Scotland. With all that different architecture from over nearly a thousand years, it’s easily the coolest place I’ve ever been.”

#3. Indescribable.

“The Louvre.

I’m not a huge art buff. I dropped art history class back in college because I literally couldn’t stay awake. Still, the majesty of seeing hundreds of paintings twice as old as my country with such breathtaking detail that has held up for centuries… indescribable.

If I could, I would go back and spend a full day or two there. Four hours is certainly not enough.”

#4. Absolutely stunning.

“Cliffs of Moher.

The view is absolutely stunning and really puts our size in perspective.”

#5. Heaven on earth.

“Zanzibar….its heaven on earth.”

#6. For all the right reasons.

“The Amalfi coast. Positano is the most magical place I’ve ever been.

And reminded me of Mario Sunshine, for all the right reasons.”

#7. A breath of fresh air.

“Iceland. Its so peaceful, Especially for people who live in busy cities, Iceland will be a breath of fresh air, Literally.”

#8.  Nothing can top it.

“Hands down, New Zealand. I’ve been there in 2016 and we’ve traveled from Auckland to Christchurch and I wanna go back there so so bad to see it all again and even more. The landscape is absolutely breathtaking, the people there are all so damn fucking friendly it’s sickening adorable. I honestly can’t think of a place where the landscape can change so fast, where you can see so so much, like, okay we’re in Franz Josef now with these big ass mountains and snow and everything and now let’s just gonna drive two hours and we’re back at the beach going swimming. I absolutely loved Kaiteriteri Beach, we’ve had the most lovely little motel there, they handed us fresh milk as our welcome gift. We took a sideseeing tour in Wellington and our guide was so damn proud to have been in LOTR and showed us a picture where you could actually see him in the movie. There was this cute little Italian restaurant in Auckland where we’ve had some of the best pizza ever and on our way to Rotorua we went shopping at a supermarket and had trouble finding water. In the end four people were helping us finding it, all of them costumers of course. In Rotoura we went to the see a Maori village, I still get goosebumps when I think back to their Haka they did for us. We couldn’t go hiking in Tongariro because of bad weather but man that motel was cozy as hell and their spareribs were the best. It was so lovely and tiny we would have stayed for longer if we could have. And man, don’t let me get started about Te Anau! That glowworm cave? You have to see it for yourself, it was the most beautiful and amazing thing I’ve ever seen. It was so dark you couldn’t see a thing and then above your head, hundreds and hundreds of tiny glowworms making it seem as if you look into another galaxy. We did sky diving in Queenstown, went to Fangorn forest and saw the Misty Mountains, had the best burger in the world at Fergburger and drove in a fucking Hummer limo to a small restaurant in Franz Josef for free just because they were new and it was my sister in law’s birthday. We saw penguins and sealions at the Milford Sounds, we saw dolphins at the Marlborough Sounds, we saw so many adorable mischievous Keas, it was amazing. It was the best trip I’ve ever done and I would go again and again and again because there is so much to see. Go to New Zealand, seriously. Nothing can top it.”

#9. That tourist trap.

“Your own hometown.

There are so many people who would never consider to be tourist where they live, but haven’t been in the local cathedral, haven’t been at ‘that tourist trap’, or haven’t taken a museum tour ever.”

#10. By far my favorite.

“I visited south east Asia recently and Vietnam was by far my favorite.

Started in chau doc then Saigon, then worked our way up the coast to Hanoi.

My favourite place was Hoi An, it was the most beautiful town I’ve ever seen in my life. I see why they call it ‘the city of lanterns’. I also got a tailor made suit there too.”

#11. Rich with history.

“Greece. Not the touristy islands but the mainland and less visited islands. Seriously my favourite country in the world. Rich with history (there are literally ancient ruins in the most random places, it’s insane), breathtaking nature (gorgeous mountains and the stunning sea), great food and it’s actually relatively affordable if you don’t go where all the tourists crowd around. I’ve been all over Europe and Greece was definitely my favourite place to visit. Something about it separates it from everywhere else. I would go there again in a heartbeat.

Edit- I always see people asking whether they should go to Italy or Greece. I would choose Greece. Italy was also beautiful, but it was incredibly expensive and packed with tourists. Already planning my next trip.”

#12. Impossible to imagine.

“The Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany.

It’s impossible to imagine how impressive this cathedral is without seeing it in person. It also has a super interesting history, consisting of literal hundreds of years of construction.

Also, Cologne is a very cool city, in general.

Pretty much every place I would recommend is in Germany or Austria. Such astoundingly beautiful countries, and completely unlike anything you could see or experience in the United States (where I live/am from).”

#13. Unlike any other city.

“Tokyo, biggest city you’ll see, yet the cleanest and one of the safest. Unlike any other city.”

#14. They come before tourists.

“Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai Thailand.

In the north of Thailand there are a lot of elephant camps for tourists. With some of them it’s pretty obvious they mistreat the animals, they let you ride them which is a big no-no. In other parks it’s more subtle but doing some deep googling I’ve discovered problems with most of the other camps as well (including the very well known Elephant Jungle Sanctuary).

Except ENP. This place is the only one I found to be really ethical. They save abused elephants from other camps and from farmers. A lot of their elephants are wounded or disabled from past abuse. Babies are cute and bring visitors but still they are not so happy if one is born in the camp because the resources could instead go for an abused elephant in need. Everything is focused on the elephants, they come before the tourists.

As an elephant lover I did one of the more expensive packages and I am still in love with the place, planning to come back in later years and do the week long volunteer program.”

#15. Pictures don’t do it justice.

“The three most impressive “pictures don’t do it justice” places I’ve visited: (1) Iguazu Falls. You have to see it up close on the Argentine side. Not just see it, but hear the roar of the water, feel the mist in the air. (2) Lake Morraine in Banff. I had seen pictures and wondered if it was truly as beautiful as it looked. Did not disappoint. It was an emotional experience seeing it for the first time. (3) Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. The hike to the fort overlooking the bay is not easy, but well worth it.”

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12+ People Reveal Shocking Truths They Learned About a Loved One After Their Death

Losing a loved one is always terrible, but it’s even worse still when their passing starts to reveal some unsettling truths about their life. Learning something unexpected after a loved one is gones can add a whole other level to unpack before you’re able to move on.

#1. It was a match.

“We very recently found out via ancestry.com that my grandfather had an illegitimate child that was born the year he married my grandmother. I have a half-aunt, blood test confirmed.

She’s 50, and only knew who her father could be (my grandpa) because her mother told her what his name possibly was; went looking, and she eventually found us. My mother sent her DNA test in to confirm, and it was a match.

Edit: he passed away 19 years ago, after a car accident.”

#2. He got away with it.

“After his death I found out my Biological father sent a bomb to his ex-wife’s work. My mom was pregnant with my baby sister at the time. Luckily ex-wife had some weird feeling and reported the package. A bomb squad was able to do a controlled detonation.

He got away with it.

This is what I know. Remember I was a very small child so all my info is second hand.

From what I’ve heard there were no prints, no unique parts, nothing really all that special about what was recovered from the bomb after detonation. The only sort of tie was a portion of the label which was apparently a really odd/specific size and manufacturer. The only local/semi local places that purchased them were a place he volunteered for and some random law office or similar. They got the ex to tip him off that there was a lead on the labels and they were trying to find places that kept them. Then they set up a camera in the supply closet to see if they could catch him destroying evidence. Apparently he went in, reached for them, dropped his hand, grabbed a pen or something instead, smiled to himself and walked out. The place was very easily accessed by a large and varied group of people from around the city.

I have no fucking clue how was able to get off Scott free. But my mom said the police and FBI never came to the house again. It seems bizarre that when I was 3 years old the FBI was at my house for a bombing case while I probably played with my cabbage patch kid and my my little ponies.

When I cleaned out his house a couple decades later I found a wooden cigar box hidden in a closet full of wires, very small pliers and such. I thought it was really weird. About a week later I found out about the bombing.

Again I’m not 100% on all the details. I’ve heard all this info from my half brother, his mom the ex, and my mom. It was so long ago and before internet news was much of a thing. If really at all a thing in our town. I would dig up more but I really think the fuck face deserves as little thought as possible.”

#3. He died saving people.

“My dad was an Air Force pilot who was killed in a crash during a plane malfunction. I grew up thinking he couldn’t do anything and couldn’t land and that was it. 20 years after he died, I found out he had the choice between jettisoning to safety and risking the plane landing on the base and killing people or steering the plane as far away from people as he could and going down with it. I hate that I grew up without a dad but I’m glad he at least died saving people.”

#4. Even his wife had no idea.

“My mom’s step-grandpa told everyone he was an electrician and that he was always being called out of town to do various repair jobs.

After he died, the family received a letter from the president of the United States, revealing that he was actually a demolitions expert and worked in some sort of special ops bomb squad for the military. Even his wife had no idea.”

#5. Huge shock to everyone.

“My grandpa was a CIA operative during the cold war whos job it was to intercept Russian transmissions. Nobody except my grandma knew and she never told a soul. When he died, we found all his documents and she finally had to tell us. Huge shock to everyone.”

#6. It was really sweet.

“When my grandma died, a lot of homeless people showed up to her funeral. Turns out she was or had fed/helped them. They were crying so much, it was really sweet.”

#7. I’m glad.

“I had an aunt who was severely disabled most of her life and confined to a wheelchair. I was surprised to find out after she died she had a lover most of her life with similar disabilities who passed away shortly before her. I’m glad she had someone in her life like that.”

#8. One of her greatest moments in life.

“A few years after my great aunt passed away, we found out that she had a daughter no one in our family knew about. The daughter, who I’ll call M, had been put up for adoption when my aunt was very young.

M had been searching for her missing side of the family since she was young, and was in her fifties when she finally found us. Unfortunately, she never got to meet her biological mother, but she and her daughters couldn’t be happier to have found us, and we have welcomed them in with open arms.

My family is very musically inclined and several of us play(ed) instruments, my great aunt included. M’s daughter is very musically talented and always says that she never knew where she got it from until she met us. Her daughter told us that learning there was this whole side of her family who is just like her was one of her greatest moments in life.

M acts and talks exactly like my aunt did, always saying quirky stuff and being very animated, which fascinates me because she never was able to grow up and live with my aunt. My family is very close knit, and it hit really hard when my aunt passed away, so finding this woman who is my aunt made over has been such a blessing.

Sorry for the long story, I just love telling it.”

#9. Money makes people do horrible things.

“My Great Uncle raised my mother on the family farm, He wrote the will so that the farm would be in a trust for my mother, and if it were sold the money would held in an account with the interest going to my grandmother until she died, then my mother could do as she pleased with it.

Years go by and the area undergoes massive expansion and housing and property is at a premium. He turned down multiple multi-million dollar offers because he wanted to die there and told the developers to come back after he was gone. He passes away, then my grandparents contest the will and have it changed to become their property.

They get in touch with one of the developers and start trying to sell, in the middle they declare bankruptcy and take the first offer…..$250000 instead of holding out for the big numbers. Best part is they go and buy a new house and pay cash, then promptly lose it a few years later for not paying taxes.

So in closing I got to witness my family get ripped apart, my families property that had been in the family for since the early 1800s get sold for a song and to top it off it all got pissed away for stupidity.

TLDR: Money makes people do horrible things.”

#10. To everyone’s amazement.

“An elderly man at church lived alone (a widower) and was thought to be quite poor.

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, parishioners would bring him food baskets and practical things he could use for daily living.

To everyone’s amazement, when he died, he left the church just under $2 million with a letter expressing his gratitude for the years of care the church had shown him.”

#11. He had planned his suicide for years.

“After my brother’s suicide, I pieced together that he had planned his suicide for years and used this long period of time to set my mother up to have a mental break down.

He was a junior high teacher and also intentionally messed with his students by claiming that he knew his date of death. He gave them hints (which of course came true) and his death fucked them up too.”

#12. I have no idea.

“I learnt 2 hours before my partner committed suicide that almost everything he ever told me was a lie.

The hours after his death I learnt that myself and our daughter were actually his second family. I had been with him for 13 years. He had been with his wife and sons for almost 30 years.

I have no idea how it was possible that he kept 2 completely separate lives going for so long.”

#13. She didn’t know what to do.

“That my great aunt had a baby in the backyard and buried it. This was in the 40’s, she was a teenager and she became pregnant due to rape and she didn’t know what to do.

Edit: To answer the most asked question, nobody knows if the baby was alive when it was born but if it was, she most likely smothered it to stop its cries and then buried it.”

#14. Until I looked…

“I had a great aunt that lived with her son. Actually her son lived with her. But we found fucking nasty pictures of them fucking. I think my mom had a suspicion it was going on. They both died around the same time and my mom ended up as executor or whatever of the estate. I remember her specifically saying not to look at any pictures we found, but I had no idea why until I looked at them.”

#15. Monster.

“My great aunt died about a year ago. She was in her mid 70s. We were unpacking all her things and we found her diaries, some from years ago and some just before her death. In her diaries she had mentioned that she despised her sister (to be honest, non of us liked her), and didn’t like a lot of my cousins.

Most shocking, she kept on talking about a man who she called, ‘monster’. This man had been sexually harassing her and abusing her for years. She never mentioned it nor indicated that anything was wrong. We suspect that it was her boss.

I loved her dearly, she was so sweet.”

The post 12+ People Reveal Shocking Truths They Learned About a Loved One After Their Death appeared first on UberFacts.

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New Study Finds Your Bottled Water May Be Dirtier Than You Think

A lot of people believe that paying money for bottled water is a better idea than drinking tap water. Some believe it’s actually healthier for them, while others might insist that it’s cleaner. While there can be some truth to this (if you live in Flint, MI, for instance), a recent study may have consumers thinking twice about how much they spend on bottled water in the future.

The study tested 259 bottles across 11 brands and 9 countries (including the United States) and found that 93% of the tested bottles contained microplastics – around 10.4 plastic particles per liter of water.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

In case you’re wondering, that’s twice the amount of contamination found in most tap water, according to an Orb Media investigation.

Microplastics are tiny fragments of plastic, including the plastic used to make some of the bottle caps. Researcher Sherri Mason told AFP “I think that most of the plastic that we are seeing is coming from the bottle itself, it is coming from the cap, it is coming from the industrial process of bottling the water.”

Even though research shows that microplastics can be harmful to marine life, it’s unclear whether or not they have similar effects on humans – they’re found in other edible products, like fish and shellfish, and in tap water, and a recent study found that they’re absolutely making their way into humans, too.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Mason continued:

“There are connections to increases in certain kids of cancer to lower sperm count to increases in conditions like ADHD and autism. We know that they are connected to these synthetic chemicals in the environment and we know that plastics are providing kind of a means to get those chemicals into our bodies.”

Joe Doss, the President of the International Bottled Water Association, cautions that the study hasn’t been peer reviewed and should be taken with a grain of salt until it is.

“Consumers can remain confident that bottled water products, like all food and beverages, are strictly regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and, thus, are safe for consumption,” Doss said in a statement. “The bottled water industry is committed to providing consumers with the safest and highest quality products.”

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The World Health Organization confirmed to BBC that they will be conducting a review into the potential risks posed by microplastics found in bottled water.

Until then…I don’t know. Buy a filtered pitcher or bottle? Switch to Gatorade? Drink from the tap? Your choice!

The post New Study Finds Your Bottled Water May Be Dirtier Than You Think appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

New Study Finds Your Bottled Water May Be Dirtier Than You Think

A lot of people believe that paying money for bottled water is a better idea than drinking tap water. Some believe it’s actually healthier for them, while others might insist that it’s cleaner. While there can be some truth to this (if you live in Flint, MI, for instance), a recent study may have consumers thinking twice about how much they spend on bottled water in the future.

The study tested 259 bottles across 11 brands and 9 countries (including the United States) and found that 93% of the tested bottles contained microplastics – around 10.4 plastic particles per liter of water.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

In case you’re wondering, that’s twice the amount of contamination found in most tap water, according to an Orb Media investigation.

Microplastics are tiny fragments of plastic, including the plastic used to make some of the bottle caps. Researcher Sherri Mason told AFP “I think that most of the plastic that we are seeing is coming from the bottle itself, it is coming from the cap, it is coming from the industrial process of bottling the water.”

Even though research shows that microplastics can be harmful to marine life, it’s unclear whether or not they have similar effects on humans – they’re found in other edible products, like fish and shellfish, and in tap water, and a recent study found that they’re absolutely making their way into humans, too.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Mason continued:

“There are connections to increases in certain kids of cancer to lower sperm count to increases in conditions like ADHD and autism. We know that they are connected to these synthetic chemicals in the environment and we know that plastics are providing kind of a means to get those chemicals into our bodies.”

Joe Doss, the President of the International Bottled Water Association, cautions that the study hasn’t been peer reviewed and should be taken with a grain of salt until it is.

“Consumers can remain confident that bottled water products, like all food and beverages, are strictly regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and, thus, are safe for consumption,” Doss said in a statement. “The bottled water industry is committed to providing consumers with the safest and highest quality products.”

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The World Health Organization confirmed to BBC that they will be conducting a review into the potential risks posed by microplastics found in bottled water.

Until then…I don’t know. Buy a filtered pitcher or bottle? Switch to Gatorade? Drink from the tap? Your choice!

The post New Study Finds Your Bottled Water May Be Dirtier Than You Think appeared first on UberFacts.

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15 People Reveal the Things Their Hometown is Infamous For

No matter where you end up in life, you’ll always remember your hometown. Maybe it’s a great place with fond memories, or maybe it’s a total s**thole that you’re glad to be away from. Every town has that one “thing” that defines it. Some places, though, have a darker claim to fame than others…

AskReddit users went on the record and shared what their hometowns are infamously known for.

1. Not the South

“I’ll preface this by saying this is not the South.

Back in the day, a crowd tried to lynch a black man over an alleged assault. A mob gathered, overpowered police, and stormed the courthouse where he was on trial. In an attempt to stop the violence, many government officials tried to address the crowd themselves. After none of this proved successful, the Mayor, fearing for his life, shot a member of this mob. The mob then attempted to hang the mayor as well.

Nowadays, it’s still one of the most dangerous cities in America, however only if you’re black.”

2. True crime

“A disproportionately high unsolved murder rate. In my 40+ years alive, there’s been less than 10 murders, (probably less than 5, but the last couple years have been a little crazy). Of those only like 3 are solved.”

3. It’s complicated

“The waterfall we have here and part of the Erie Canal. And it’s kind of a ghetto place. There’s the snobby tourist who come in and judge the people who live here. Like, dude take your hipster butt somewhere else if you don’t like us.”

4. The Big Easy

“Jambalaya, red beans and rice, Popeyes, Mardi Gras, French quarter, Bourbon Street, oh and Arby’s on canal.”

5. Dallas

“JFK got an unpleasant greeting from a guy named Lee Harvey.”

6. C’mon, sheriff…

“Our sheriff arrested Willie Nelson’s band… for weed.”

 

7. Well, sh*t

“Being full of sh*tty people. I’m not even kidding, if you go anywhere else in the province, and you mention my hometown, people usually grimace or pity you or even straight up ask you if you’re a piece of sh*t like everyone else there.”

8. Dad doesn’t reside there

“Big old prison. Smaller newer prison.

The big old one is used in films a lot, for example Shawshank.

The funny thing is, being born there it had no connotations for me. So when my parents split up and we moved, and people asked where my father was, and I told them, they all assumed he was locked up good.”

9. Deep in the heart of Texas

“Andrea Yates

Clara Harris

Enron collapse

Candy Man killer in the 70s (I didn’t exist then)”

10. Oscar!

“A giant, possibly man-eating, certainly terrifying snapping turtle, whose name is Oscar. We also have the oldest continuous annual festival in Indiana, which is a celebration of same turtle.”

11. Hellhole

“Very little, but Fatboy Slim, who grew up there, once called it “A suburban hellhole” which made the front cover of the local newspaper for three weeks in a row as people were so upset. He wasn’t wrong though.”

12. Google it

“The local football/Soccer team lied and said one of the players died so they didn’t have to play a match. (Players wanted to go to a stag do) There was a minutes silence for him and everyone thought he was dead. He was fine and just went home to Spain. This was like 2 days ago lol. Google it. Clubs name is Ballybrack FC. It’s been all over the news and I imagine it’s what we’re gonna be known for from now on.”

13. A sad state of affairs

“Apparently it’s a heroin death rate 25x the national average.”

14. Not a good combo

“Country music and meth.”

15. What an honor

“We were the subject of a 4chan prank and got Pitbull to come to our Walmart.”

The post 15 People Reveal the Things Their Hometown is Infamous For appeared first on UberFacts.