As if life isn't scary enough just by trying to survive 2020.... now people want to discuss some mysteries of life that will make you wish you had to memory. There are things we don't know or never think about on a regular basis, and after we come across the knowledge of said facts it's ok to feel like we a little lighter on information. There are too many things to keep us all awake at night... and a ton of them are below.
Redditor u/MrStojanov wanted to know who could share some frightening details about life and the world we may not all want to know by asking..... What is the most terrifying fact?Fulmur
The defense mechanism of the Fulmar Chick... when threatened, Fulmar chicks will projectile vomit a nasty, sticky orange colored, oil type substance at its attacker. The vomit hardens, and glues the attackers feathers together, rendering it flightless. So now the attacker tries to clean the vomit off in a body of water, only for them to find out the oil type vomit has effectively removed all possibility of buoyancy in water... and the attacker sinks to the bottom and drown, while the Fulmar chick looks on from a distance... watching, waiting for the bubbles to stop, and silently chuckling to itself... terrifying.
Fragile
You can die any second of the day for no known reason other than your body has decided it's done with this business of living now. You have Brugada syndrome and you had a fever too long? Heart attack. You didn't know you had a brain aneurysm and you hit your head? Pop! You bleed to death inside your skull. Just really tall and kinda skinny? You need a collapsed lung. The human body is weirdly fragile for no apparent reason sometimes.
Humm... us
Spiders can eat hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds are only in North and South America, so this spider likely lives on the same landmass as you.
The Heart
My mum died of ischemic heart disease. She had no symptoms at all, just went to sleep one night and never woke up. As its what also killed my grandad, its super likely i have it, but i cant get tested until I'm over 40 and only if the doctor decides its enough of a thing.
Shutdown
After you are medically dead, your brain exhibits a spasm of activity, as if it knows it is now dead.
It's making sure any hanging threads are closed before it shuts down. A graceful shutdown allows for a more stable reboot.
Nuked
The US has lost a confirmed 14 nuclear missiles since 1950, and we still don't know how many nukes the Soviet Union lost. One example would be when a US bomber collided with a tanker mid air and the bomb was lost as a consequence. They found one of them after 12 weeks, but I think that there were multiple that remained lost, but I'm not 100% sure.
Experiments
Today's medicine is mostly based on disturbing human experiments.
If the Japanese hadn't done horrible things to pregnant Chinese women we wouldn't know half as much about what causes birth defects. Yeah, we basically traded a lot of war criminals from axis countries their freedom in exchange for their lab notes
The Rock
There's plenty of world-ending (or at least human-ending) junk in space and it's possible that something will hit us eventually.
Most of what we know about is bright shiny things that reflect light well, but there are a whole lot of others that are really dark. It's like the solar system has a bunch of ping-pong balls floating around. Some of them are bright and shiny white or rock-colored, but some look spray-painted black or very dark brown.
We know where a lot of the shiny ones are, but the dark ones are almost invisible on the backdrop of dark space and we only really see them when they move in front of something bright or light hits them at just the right angle.
If they're moving quickly, we might have a few hours up to a week to prepare. And that's assuming someone spots it the moment it gets close enough to see with a telescope.
Sometimes we don't see them and we only see them after they've already missed Earth.
The odds are really low that we'll actually get hit by any given rock, because space is really really big, but there are lots of rocks out there, with plenty of time to float around, so eventually Earth will get hit.
BE COMPLETELY NORMAL
That one morning you can wake up, go about your day BE COMPLETELY NORMAL, then suddenly get a severe headache. No big deal right? You've had migraines before so you head to lie down, but instead that's it. You drop dead from a brain aneurism. Or you survive and are rushed to the hospital where misdiagnoses and delays in diagnoses happen in up to quarter of the patients and every second counts.
50% of ruptured blood aneurisms are fatal. 66% of those that survive have neurological damage. In those that survive, 20% have it happen to them again. Some people don't even experience symptoms before having one. Screw brain aneurisms.
Monsters Inside Me
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Years ago I saw an episode of Monsters Inside Me where this guy was doing something outside and a fly flew into his eye. It only made contact for about a microsecond, but it was enough time for it to lay eggs. After they hatched they started eating his eye from the inside and he was starting to go blind until a doctor figured out what was wrong.
Just imagine that, getting your eye eaten from the inside and losing your sight all because a fly very briefly made contact with you. Ever since I learned about this I get really paranoid when there is a fly around my face because of the fact that this could possibly happen to me.
death is real
The fact that you realize death is real after one of your loved ones had died. And realizing your mother grandma etc will die soon as well. I lost my dad 4 months ago and I can tell you it hits hard. (Male, 16 years old).
Edit: First of all thanks for the upvotes and the award kind stranger. Second I want to tell about my relationship with my dad. He actually is my aunt's husband.
My biological parents divorced when I was in first grade and and I was with my father and grandma. When I turned 9 or 10 my grandma broke her leg so she couldn't take care of me, and my dad had a busy work schedule. I started with living with my aunt and Robert. We lived for 7 years and he taught me almost everything I know about life including English(I am Turkish and I had almost 0 knowledge about English now I am fluent with a half Canadian accent)(Yes he was Canadian).
The Drill
That COVID-19 is actually a lot less dangerous than it could have been.
The next one might have a longer incubation time and much higher mortality rate, or primarily kill people in their 30s and 40s, or both, like the Spanish flu. Imagine how screwed we will be then.
In fact, I think we caught a lucky break with COVID-19.
It's serious enough to force us to take it really seriously, and so learn how to deal with a serious pandemic, but at the same time mild enough to not completely ruin the world as we know it. COVID-19 is our pandemic dress rehearsal. Next time, we will know the drill.
Fireball....
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If the sun exploded, we wouldn't know for 8 minutes.
Rest easy, the sun is never going to explode. It doesn't have enough mass to become a supernova.
It will instead gradually expand into a red giant, either cooking us with unfathomable heat, or swallowing us entirely. It is a an open question which it will do, and also an open question whether we will get pushed into a wider orbit or swallowed up by the sun. But it is pretty much a given that it will cook the surface of the planet. If anything is still alive when that happens, it won't be after it's done.
I hope this sets your mind at ease.
Be Fearless
That the brain is so ready to interpret facts on a whim even when it's wrong.
As an example, I misread this thread as "what is the most terrific fact you know" and thought after a few comments that people were too dumb to know the difference between terrific and terrifying...
Never be afraid to fact check.
Flatline
I read that feeling is the last sense to go when you die so I have this fear of being declared dead but then feeling everything they do to me after. So if I'm dead am I still conscious for a time but unable to move? Will I be cut into? Stuck in a freezer?
SUN AND MOON
That during the Cold War, both side's early warning systems mistook the SUN AND MOON for missiles. Pure luck that the people in charge were skeptical saved the world TWICE.
See also: Vasily Arkhipov, who was pressured to fire nukes at the US after his submarine went too deep to receive radio transmissions and was attacked by the US Navy, but refused.
Only the beginning
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With coronavirus not contained, political instability, financial upheaval, and climate change coming due, it's quite possible that 2020 will be the best year we have for a while.
Nowhere else to hide....
The Great Depression (plus the unfairness of The Treaty of Versailles) caused the German people to turn to the Nazi party out of desperation, thus bringing about WW2. Economists are predicting a similar global depression due to COVID. If there isn't some sort of large-scale conflict within the next ten years, I'll eat my hat!
The Worst
There are people in your country right now committing the most horrible crimes and they will never ever face punishment for it. Assaults, murders, torture, slavery. They cause unimaginable suffering but they get to live happy lives. What makes it even worse is sometimes the people who's job it is to stop them will protect them instead.
Get it Together
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The total mass of all of the ants on earth is equal to the total mass of humans. Ants can lift 10x their weight. They could easily take over if they got it together.
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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.