Knowledge is power and facts are important. Even the most random pieces of knowledge can land you on "Jeopardy" or "Who Wants to be a Millionaire!"
Statistics is a well of interesting facts. Knowing the numerical facts and odds about so much of life can go a long way.
Redditor u/bab3sia3d3l wanted everyone to share facts and knowledge we could all learn a few things from, by asking:
What is the most interesting statistic or fact you know?
I'm afraid to learn more about humanity. Also, I don't want to read about end of life stuff. Statistically, I want to believe there is a way to live forever.
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Pick a Hand
"My favorite statistic, as a left-handed person myself, is that southpaws die, on average, 13 years younger than right-handed people. I had always heard this attributed to the fact that power tools are generally designed for right-handed users, making many of them awkward and dangerous for left-handed people. But the real explanation is far more interesting."
"See, until the middle of the 20th century, being left-handed was heavily stigmatized, and often viewed as a sign of the devil. Teachers would not allow their left-handed students to actually use their dominant hand. This actually proved to be somewhat effective."
"So as left-handedness became more accepted, lefty children were no longer forced to use their right hand, but older people who were naturally left-handed but forced to use their right hand continued to identify as right-handed."
"Because of this, the average age of self-described left-handed people was significantly lower than it would be if not for the previous generation being forced into right-handedness. And when the average age of a group of people is lower, the average age of death tends to follow suit."
Woof
"One fact that I always love sharing is that ravens and wolves will work together to find food, the ravens act as scouts for the wolf pack and when they find an animal, dead or alive, they will use a special call to alert the pack of the direction of the food, really interesting stuff."
Angles...
"The bond angle between the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in a water molecule is exactly 104.5 degrees. This peculiar angle allows water to be less dense when solid than when liquid, which is why ice floats. If ice didn't float, it's unlikely that life would be possible, at least in the sense that we know it."
Give me a Calendar
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"People born in the springtime have a 15% higher chance of having anorexia, people born in October have a 10% less likely chance of any other month to have one."
As a New Yorker... who are y'all biting? And prefer my fabulous fall birthday.
Logistics
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"At the battle of Gettysburg, the South came in from the north and the North came in from the south."
"games played"
"If the entire world participated in a single elimination rock-paper-scissor tournament it would be over in 33 rounds."
"I think "rounds" does not imply "games played" but "people facing off and deciding on a winner based on a set of rules, which might require more than one game". The classic is "best of three; ties are repeated". That is more complex, especially as the probability of each choice is not 1/3 for each player to chose one of the possible hands (this game has been examined). but it still does not change the number of "rounds" where two players face off."
People Share The Most Selfless Thing They've Ever Secretly Done | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
A simple gesture from a good samaritan can go a long way. It could even inspire a chain of people paying it forward. But there's a certain rush in knowing yo...Meow
"Polydactyl cats, or cats with more than the typical number of toes, were once considered lucky by sailors and were highly desired to have on ships. When the sailors made port, the cats did too. Because of this the New England coastline has a higher number of polydactyl feral cats than anywhere else in the world."
- Diredoe
"Poison King"
"Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, was one of the Roman Republic's most terrifying enemies after Hannibal Barca. He performing a genocide of Roman colonists in modern-day western Turkey in an event called the Asiatic Vespers. This led to conflict with the Romans in the Mithridatic Wars (yeah, he had a series of wars named after himself), but ultimately lost to the Roman war machine after 20 years of conflict."
"Also was known as the "Poison King", due to the fact he routinely poisoned himself to build up immunity because he was so paranoid about being poisoned by any one of his numerous courtly rivals. Honestly, this whole man's life was just wild. I recommend reading the biography in my source below! Source: https://www.livius.org/articles/person/mithridates/"
Average
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"The average person believes they are smarter than the average person."
- SmackEh
MEGA/Micro
"Scientist had to come up with a unit of measure to tell people how bad Nuclear death would be. So they came up with MEGADEATH."
The inverse of a megadeath is a micromort, which is a statistical tool used to describe a person's chance of dying in a given period."
"On a more light hearted note, when they had to come up with a unit for every day radiation exposure that are actually not that bad they invented the banana equivalent."
Colors for All...
"The Olympic flag's colors are always red, black, blue, green, and yellow rings on a field of white. This is because at least one of those colors appears on the flag of every nation on the planet."
"Every time I see this I want a country to change their flag to just purple or orange."
"And Green was required only because of Libya until Ghaddafi was removed. It can technically now be removed."
- tnick771
Shut up Wayne!
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"The highest scoring pair of brothers in NHL history are Wayne and Brent Gretzky, with 2,861 points combined. Wayne scored 2,857 of these points. Brent scored 4. Wayne brings this up every year at Christmas."
Fiction
"My friend in high school had this novel that was nothing but a bunch of interesting statistics. She read through the entire thing (had to be 100+ pages) and on one of the last pages it said "70% of the statistics in this book are made up." She was so mad."
- Alethi
Make a Wish
"In a room of 23 people there is a 50% chance two of them have the same birthday. In a room of 72 it's almost certain."
"I have first hand experience of this! I was on a bus coming back from Colonial Williamsburg to my hotel and somehow we got on the topic of birthdays and it turned out me and someone else on the bus had the same birthday!"
flash of light...
"Certain types of lighthouses are identified by the timing between each flash of light. You could have two lighthouses on the same coast, one blinks every 5s, the other every 7s. Sailors can then identify which lighthouse is which, what coast they're on, and what hazard each lighthouse is warning of. This is used in combination with a kinda lighthouse log book, which notes the timings of each lighthouse for a certain area."
"This was more commonly used before advances in location/gps technology, but it's still relevant today. I find the simple logic of this, given it's age, ingenious, and I tell as many people as I can, when I can. Along with a bunch of other useless info. Haha."
And Tea?
"When people are asked What they like in a perfect Cup of coffee, the top three words are bold dark aromatic. When people are given coffee options they pick warm creamy and sweet. People Often say one thing But actually mean another."
- Csj2454
"When I'm asked what I like in a perfect Cup of coffee, I usually say Whiskey."
A-HAAA!!!
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"Unlike most phobias, which cause blood pressure to spike, fear of blood makes it drop, hence the fainting."
minus the wrap...
"Saran Wrap can fix a corked bottle of wine- Ever opened a corked bottle of wine? Smells nasty, tastes nasty. If you can't return it, you can pour it into a decanter or pitcher and add a crumbled up piece of saran wrap in it. The TCA molecules that make thawing corked will bond to the saran wrap and then the wine will be drinkable (minus the wrap) after that. It will only ever get to about 80% of what it should taste like, but it's no longer gross."
Ah wisdom, what a gift. And what a burden.
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When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.
For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.