
The internet has democratized knowledge and information at an alarming rate.
In seconds, we can pull up an exhaustive article that delves deeply into a niche topic that once would have required a day in the library and whole lot of time spent in the index.
It's awesome. We can whip out our phones to answer questions and win arguments, depending on the situation.
But there's a downside: every once in awhile we come across a terrifying tidbit of information that we'd rather never have heard about. Just knowing the info can leave us feeling unnerved for plenty of moments after calling it to mind.
For better or worse, here's a whole list of those from Reddit.
Green-Owl6244 asked,
"What's a piece of information you wish you never knew?"
Many Redditors chose to discuss the awful dynamics of people and institutions. There are some tendencies of "civilized" life that really show the underbelly of what we're capable of.
The Mourning Industrial Complex
"The funeral industry. In general, it's very predatory, and mostly unnecessary. It's a way to make big bucks by guilting people into feeling like they don't love their family if they don't buy all this ridiculous stuff."
"Vaults for caskets have other purposes, but they are important so cemetery machinery can drive over graves without collapsing them. Caskets themselves are...comfortable boxes for people who don't need comfort anymore. Embalming is to preserve for viewing, but doesn't make much sense otherwise."
"The flowers alone are crazy expensive. It's all a gross show to make us feel better about death and make it pretty."
One Track Mind
"The mental hospitals I went to didn't actually care about me, their sole job was to make sure I didn't hurt myself. That's it, nothing to make me happier or to see what was wrong with me, nada. Told to me by my therapist."
"Sometimes ignorance is bliss"
Nooooo Poor Fluffers
"As a vet tech and shelter worker, there is a euthanasia 'season' just after Christmas day. Everyone wants one more holiday with their pet, I get that completely"
"There is also a 'balcony season' which comes during the first nice days of spring when everyone opens up their balcony doors. Huge influx of cats and dogs who go over the side"
-- ellegryphon
Other people called to mind historical or scientific facts about humans that were truly terrifying. Some of the things of our past are ugly to look back on.
180 Seconds, Falling
"The crew of the Challenger weren't killed in the explosion, the crew module remained intact until the module crashed into the ocean three minutes later."
"There's evidence they were conscious during this, and attempted to take steps to save themselves (knowing full well the situation they were in wasn't surviveable)"
-- Notmiefault
Deteriorating
"In the 1920s, women who worked on watches that glow in the dark used paint that contained radium. They were told that the paint is safe, and were instructed to regularly put the paint brushes in their mouth to keep them pointed."
"They got necrosis of the jaw. One woman went to the dentist to get a tooth pulled and her entire jaw came out."
-- Aqquila89
Taste Test
"Before modern medicine doctors diagnosed diabetes by tasting the urine of the patient. Sweet urine = diabetes. I don't really know how this helped anyone because I assume that everyone just died from it afterwards."
-- TomBuilder_
How Smell Works
"The fact that you smell things by just taking small parts of the objects you smell and put them inside your nose. So any time you smell poo ..."
- Big_Bad_Baseball_bat
Her Eyes
"I paid for part of my college tuition by working in a nursing home. I was with people when they died. I saw people with advanced dementia, devastating strokes, developmental disabilities, and all kinds of illnesses. Many of the people I cared were awesome, amazing people whom I still think about."
"However, they brought a woman in once who was only in her late 40s. Her file wasn’t complete with a history like all the other patients files were. She was in very good shape physically, very strong. But she was...not there. And by that I don’t mean she was confused or had Alzheimer’s. I mean that you looked into her eyes and didn’t see anybody in there."
"It’s hard to explain. Even the people I took care of who never spoke were still in there. You would get a glimmer of something, some reaction."
"Often they would surprise you by reacting to something when they usually couldn’t. Children. Music. A kind gesture. At least anger or pain!"
"But this woman seemed inhuman. No recognizable bit of humanity at all."
"She had to be restrained or she would hurt anyone she could reach. She came to us with three orange jumpsuits and that’s all the clothes she had. She liked to eat her own excrement (I know...sorry). Her eyes were dark and empty. She never had a facial expression. Blank."
"And she scared me."
"No patient before or after was scary, to me, but she really scared me. Because it honestly seemed to me — and I am not given to thinking things like this — that something not human was in there. That this lady’s essence was gone and something else was in there."
"She was only with us for a month, as they were just waiting for a bed to open up somewhere else. But nobody would say where. It was weird."
"Here is the last awful bit. One day a lovely teenage girl came in, really a nice kid. And this lady I am talking about was HER MOM. She hadn’t seen her in many years, she said."
"The head nurse took her back to see her mom and just a few minutes later the girl hurried out, almost running. I felt awful for her. And I felt even more spooked. What had happened?"
"I wish I had never seen that patient. I wish I had never known that was her daughter. I wish I could un-know what 'evil' looks like."
"Not one other experience do I regret, but that one lady still scares me to this day. She seemed wrong or evil in a way I that still freaks me out."
- Gen-Jinjur
Tumor Troubles
"Apparently tumors can grow shit like eyes and teeth."
"Google it at you own risk but be warned, it'll make resident evil look like the teenage mutant ninja turtles in comparison and it'll take days to get the image of it out of your head."
- bored_asfuk
Finally, some people shared animal facts. Even the cute, well-loved animals have some subtle behaviors or features that are enough to make you shiver.
Yuck. Just Yuck.
"Softshell turtles pee out of their mouth." -- KO-is-a-BIATCH
"They breathe through their butt" -- bmeupsctty
"Can they at least swim backwards while they do it? Peeing out your mouth is bad enough without having to swim through it as you pee." -- bowyer-betty
Delegated Stomachs
"that pelicans have three stomachs, and one of them's just for bones" -- pizzzazzzler
"I wish it could be five seconds ago when I didn't know this" -- ShadowHasBerries
"They can also push their spine out of their mouth to help cool off." -- thefifthwheelbruh
Let's Hope Opportunity Never Arises
"Horses are opportunistic carnivores."
"I learned this when I saw a video of a horse just popping a baby chick in its mouth like popcorn."
-- Jeremy12021
Blink
"I don’t remember how I found this out. In short, the fact about frogs. As soon as the frog grabs an unsuspecting insect, it should blink: the eyelids push the eyeballs to the top of the mouth and actually help push food down the throat."
"By the way, the eyes of frogs are larger than the stomach."
"Most frogs have teeth on the upper jaw, but these are mainly used to lock prey in the mouth and prevent it from escaping before the eyeballs push it towards the stomach."
- backroomsentity_
Alive?
"There were scientists that once kept a dog's head alive on a table through electrical stimulation. It is a YouTube video I can never unsee."
"I have left no link on purpose. Seriously, google at your own risk. I still cry any time I even THINK about it."
- Mxysptlik
The Fly
"The Human Botfly is still a thing."
- jjvolfan1
Hyenas Hurt
"So... uhh... I saw a comic and googled 'Hyena's Birth.' "
"This is what came up:"
" 'Giving birth is difficult for female hyenas, as the females give birth through their narrow clitoris, and spotted hyena cubs are the largest carnivoran young relative to their mothers' weight. During parturition, the clitoris ruptures in order to facilitate the passage of the young, and may take weeks to heal.' "
"God, I wish I didn't google that..."
- Mo_Ami·
So there you have it. An onslaught of reasons to lay awake tonight and feel scared to ever leave your bed again.
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Don't you love a good myth?
Us too.
Let's put some of NSFW ones to the test.
RedditorWizzlyG33wanted to hear about what lies need to be exposed when it comes to sex, death and all things over the top in life. They asked:
"If MythBusters had a NSFW episode, what would you want to see on it?"
Oh Jamie
"A five second segment where Jamie points at a diagram and says, in complete deadpan, 'This is where the clitoris is.'"
TheFeelsGoodMan
"If they did such an episode, I could see this being in it for sure."
Chubby_Bub
BUSTED!
"I want them to purchase every pill they see on the internet that would make their penis bigger and see what happens."
tkepongo
"I think we can call that one BUSTED already. In what version of any world can you imagine there is a simple pill to make your junk more impressive and every dude you know doesn't already have a case of 10000 pills stashed under the bed?"
_Alternate_Throwaway
Don't Sit
"Can you actually get an STD from a toilet seat?"
BloodyChapel
"This is an interesting thing actually. It was a myth deliberately perpetuated to make people less ashamed of asking for STD tests."
leonielion
"Fun fact: There are multiple STDs that can be dormant (like inactive) for years. Like several years."
"You’d never know you had gotten it. Then something triggers it, maybe an infection or something, and then you start showing symptoms/Can now test positive. So technically a partner from years before could have given it to you and you either think your SO is cheating or haven’t been with anybody in a long time. Either way it’s scary when you think about it."
DesperateMango1731
After Death
"Does a person really stay conscious for a few moments after beheading?"
SammyGotStache
"There was a French physician who tested this in the early 1900s. After a criminal was beheaded he picked up the head and shouted the criminal's name. The guy opened his eyes and made eye contact with the physician over a period of 30 seconds whenever his name was called. Edit: I provided the source in other comments but here it is on the original comment."
UnadulteratedWalking
Theories
"Size correlates to what? Feet? Nose? So many theories."
throwxxawayxx10977
"I have size 12 feet and a massive nose and huge hands and the little guy is small."
FireTrickle
Oh the lies and the rumors and the shade.
More is More
"They did prove that women with larger breasts will get more tips. Which isn’t really not safe for work, because Kari literally was working at a coffee shop."
Unsettleingpresence
"If breast enlargements will help your job would you be able to write them off on your taxes?"
Mr3k
Deep Down
"How deep underwater are you still able to orgasm?"
Successful_Present39
"Pretty sure there's no lower limit. When you're underwater, your body is under pressure, but for the most part doesn't actually get compressed. Only your air spaces (lungs, sinuses, inner ears) are really subject to compression from ambient water pressure. There can be painful exceptions like air pockets inside a tooth filling, which I do not recommend experiencing."
"Most of your body is water or various solids, which push back on the ambient water pressure. You prostate shouldn't be blocked by water pressure any more than your bladder is. Source: am old scuba diver, I've done all kinds of things a hundred feet underwater. At that depth the ambient pressure is 4 bar, which in olden-tymes units is nearly 60 pounds per square inch. Also: fish do it underwater, doesn't seem to stop them."
UlrichZauber
Tasting Men
"Does pineapple make your semen taste better?"
TMNT4lyfe
Keep Thinking
"Post orgasm clarity: How much better can you solve puzzles or remember something?"
texanaftdy
"Well, recently I did a lot of reaction time tests on humanbenchmark.com and while normally I get average of around 140-145, after a good O I consistently got around 130-135, very often getting single clicks close to 120 which almost never happens in other cases. And it's weird because I feel more tired but apparently my reaction time improves for some reason."
berni2905
Safety First
"A take on the top ten OSHA violations list to see if they are as dangerous as they say."
Mariuxpunk007
"Safety regulations are written in blood."
GegenscheinZ
Well that is a ton of great suggestions. Let's work on it.
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Many people value solitude, and having time to themselves.
For others though, loneliness can be a crippling feeling.
Having no one to talk to or spend time with can get wearying after an extended amount of time.
Something many people know more than ever after the global pandemic hit in spring of 2020.
But while some people simply succumb to being lonely, others will find ways to help them cope with, if not completely forget, being all alone.
Redditor No_Blackberry_6286 was curious to hear the different ways people have of coping with their loneliness, leading them to ask:
"Reddit, how do you cope with loneliness?"
Make the most with what makes you happy
"I've learned to enjoy my own company and focus on my hobbies."
"Funny enough, this gives me stuff to talk about when I am around people."
Voices in the background
"Listening to people talk on YouTube so I feel less alone in my house."
Millions of friends, just one click away.
"Chat with random people on Reddit."
Still figuring it out
"I don't I'm f*cking miserable."- Savathunh
"I don't :("- __MashedPotatoes__·
Get my body movin'
"Working out."
"It makes me feel better about myself and I have something to do alone."- DerpBread69
Who says I need to?
"I love solitude."- Befuddled_GenXer
Hit the snooze button
"Sleep 12+ hours a day."- RockandRoll682
Instant tension and relief
"Lots of arguing online about sh*t I don't care about at all, just to have some form of social interaction, and get off at least 3 times a day."-
There are very few worse feelings than that of being alone.
But it's also quite remarkable how much doing something that makes you happy, be it ever so simple, can elevate your feelings.
In this day and age of advancement, it's crazy how so many things leave our heads scratching.
Like how in 2022 is such and such still around?
Everyone in New York wondered that for the past decade until they took the final payphone.
I always wonder about companies that still make you send a fax.
Y'all have heard of email right?
RedditorPineapple_WarpDrivewanted to compare notes on why we think certain things and parts of life are not yet obsolete this late in the game of time. They asked:
"It’s 2022, what shouldn’t exist now?"
I feel like the list will be longer than we expect. We are still behind in certain ways.
lazy...
"People sticking gum on random surfaces instead of at least throwing it towards the trash can a few feet away."
iesharael
How is this allowed?
"'Convenience' fees to pay bills online."
Rude_Yam_9962
"Yeah or any 'additional fee' that’s required to buy the product or service. Advertise $100 but then at check out they add in service fee $25, convenience fee $10."
"Always at the last second too, usually right before you enter your credit card info. Wtf? How is this allowed? Just advertise $135 if that’s the price the customer is paying. Should not be allowed to bait a low price and switch with a higher one once the customer is already invested."
Can you hear me now?
"Not being able to get cell service is spots in my own home."
Haunting_Spot_8002
"A friend worked in Africa building homes for the people. He said there were bush men with spears and loin cloths with a cell phone clipped on the side. Middle of nowhere yet reception everywhere."
RedLeader7
"Most of Africa skipped land lines altogether and went straight to mobile. In the west, cell phones and mobile internet are a luxury, in less developed regions it's often the only way to communicate."
pixelbart
System Collapse
"Companies that create problems and sell solutions instead of solving existing problems."
draconic_oxalis
"This was the inevitable outcome of an economic system in which only those doing labor are allowed to have food and shelter, yet technology is constantly reducing the amount of labor that is actually necessary."
"We only get money for food if we are seen to be working on problems. Now we're having a shortage of actual problems so we must make artificial ones to keep surviving. If only we had UBI, all of these pointless industries would disappear overnight as no one wants to keep working these jobs they know are pointless."
snapwillow
Hang Up
"Spam calls."
mstrss9
"I literally had spammers somehow dupe the phone number of my local council, it's scary just how close they can get."
Hazbro29
I HATE these SPAM calls. All hours of the day and night. I hate you!
Speed Up
"Slow internet."
Necessary_Rule_8485
"We figured it out. Just that the companies are greedy and keep the money for themselves instead of upgrading infrastructure."
Unlucky_Clover
Paper Trail
"Junk mail."
furryShambler
"I know! Whatever happened with the Paperwork Reduction Act?"
Julie-Andrews
"in the U.S. you can reduce your junk mail a lot by going to.DMAChoice.org and OptOutPrescreen.com and filling out the forms for your address. I have reduced my junk mail by about 90% : FTC source"
FSMFan_2pt0
car-centric
"Having to spend 3 hours in traffic everyday."
CampaignAlternative3
"Because North American cities have over restrictive zoning laws that segregate cities based on type of usage and they build to a very low density and with car-centric development that makes it so everyone has to use a car to get anywhere."
houndog129
"It's not so easy to just 'find a job closer to home' for example I'll search on Indeed and the closest job in my line of work is like 2hrs away."
PhatShadow
It's Round
"Flat Earthers."
da_sylent
"So everything but earth Is round right? (according to flat Earthers) So as some members say it's like a frisbee in space. What if, bear with me... the reason the world will end is because a giant dog will catch us and kill everyone on earth by shaking the frisbee too much and cause floods and crap. Because if so, that's how I wanna die, letting a pupper have some fun with a fisbee."
viber223
Gross
"Child beauty pageants."
Heliouse66
"If I see a mother make her child do one of those, I WILL judge her."
EarwaxWizard
Can we work on eradicating these things? It's all well past expired.
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It's PRIDE month. It's time to be loud and proud.
Well, every minute of everyday we should be loud and proud.
But this month gives you an extra special buzz.
So in the spirit of learning, we will be taking questions from the class.
I know cisgender straight people still have a lot they don't understand.
What do you need to know?
Redditorhre_nftwanted everyone to feel comfortable enough to be as aloud what they've been waiting to ask a queer person. Safe space for all. They asked:
"What question have you always wanted to ask LGBTQ+ people but didn’t because you don’t want to offend them?"
There is always a good way to ask questions. I don't mind many of them.
I'm Out
"What should I say to someone who comes out to me? Saying 'um, OK' or 'that's nice' sounds like I'm dismissing them but trying to ask questions or engage in conversation about it seems intrusive."
KaleidoscopeOk1749
"It depends, your response should match their excitement. People that casually weave it into conversation usually don't want confetti and vice versa."
Ok_Objective6181
So Many Letters
"I know you guys want to be inclusive and all but I always feel behind on all The letters you add to LGBT, so is it fine I just say 'LGBT+?' This is not meant to not be inclusive, I'm all for LGBT+. But sometimes it gets a bit too many letters for me personally. So will I offend you guys if I only say LGBT+?"
Riufu
"Lol all the labels I identify with are included in the + and I just say LGBT. I don’t know anybody who has been upset over hearing the shortened version. You’re good to keep using the acronym that you already say."
cas47
I Don't Get It...
"What does non-binary mean? I'm from Italy and I've never met someone who came out as non-binary or even transgender. My brother met a guy once and he (my brother) said he looked gender-fluid. Gender-fluid Is the only term used here, nobody talks about non-binary."
"I know that non-binary means that you don't identify with one gender specifically (I guess), but I really really don't get it. I'm bisexual (although I've never gotten in a relationship with a woman) so I always felt like I could relate to most people of the community in one way or another."
"But this is just something I can't seem to understand, also because I've never met someone like that. I know I might never be able to get it because I'm cisgender, but I was wondering if some of you would like to take some time to share their experiences with me so that I can understand you a little bit more."
Basyl_01
Nuances
"I know I can look up the definition of it, but why is 'queer' part of the acronym? Doesn't it encompass 'lesbian' and 'gay?' Is there a nuance I'm missing?"
Ok-Ninja1040
"One of the unintended benefits of the term 'queer' is that it's a good way of saying 'Not straight, and it's not really important for you to know why or how.'"
-CoreyJ-
Hello There
"Is it ok to use adjacent urinals/talk at the urinals if you two are dating/ married?"
CashmeoutsidePearl
So far, nothing here seems offensive.
You Like It?
"I wanna ask them every time an LGBTQ+ character appears in fiction, if they felt it was a good representation or not."
NoStressAccount
Pleasure Principles
"Do asexual people not want sex/don't feel horny, but still get butterflies in their stomach for a person they like? Or does that mean they don't have crushes/attraction in any form?"
skootch_ginalola
"Each person is different but a lot of asexual people still have crushes and can still be in love with people. Asexual people can be in happy and healthy relationships."
"Some asexual people might still find pleasure in sexual activities but they might not focus on sex in life. Not all asexuals are sex repulsed. But some are. There is asexuality and people who are aromantic. Aromantic people don’t feel romantic attraction to people, but might feel sexual attraction. Some people are both asexual and aromantic."
ArcherE14
Chosen at Birth
"Why is intersex included when it's a physiological/chromosomal variation and not a sexual/gender orientation? Sorry if I worded it wrong."
Fluffy-Ad342
"Intersex people often have their gender chosen by their parents at birth and so tend to have experiences very similar to trans people. Often it even has to be corrected later in life with surgeries and hormones. It's the variation from the normal binary gender/presentation of that, which aligns them with the queer community in most cases."
Yaboijustlikesgoats
Identities...
"For non binary folk: I'm having trouble wording what I want to ask, like, why I guess? I identify as a woman but don't fit in with the typical stereotypes or gender roles, but I still consider myself a woman. I don't feel like activities, or behaviors, or clothing or whatever has to have a gender to it, so why specify that you don't identify as man or woman? Idk maybe because it's not something I've struggled with, it's hard to wrap my head around! Either way, I 100% support anyone who identifies any way!"
meowing_cat93
Extra
"Do you have to pay an upgrade fee to go from the LGBTQ membership to the LGBTQ+?"
ticklemejesus420
"Omg dude, you can get it for free with Amazon Prime! You didn't know?"
Araskog
I Like You
"How do you know you are attracted to the same sex? I personally wanted to know this because I am struggling with my sexuality. I have an attraction to men at least as far as I know. But I am constantly going back and forth with women. And it's been very confusing. So I guess it may be how do you know if you're attracted to anyone?"
Plush_Orchid
Ask all you want. Just be respectful. It's easy...
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