Be careful, you could die at any moment. Danger is lurking at every corner and ready to pounce at any given moment. The things we're naive to could be our downfall. So look at knowing these things as life saving knowledge. Yes the simplest things can also be the most harmful, in a surprising way, but that is life. It's like smelling a rose and getting stung by a bee. So smell the roses from a distance.
edditor u/Jkwon6227 wanted everyone to be warned about the things in life we may fall vulnerable to by asking.... What seem harmless but can be seriously life threatening?Quicksand....
ocean waves GIF
Giphy
Island beaches. There are a lot in Hawaii that are a lot more dangerous than tourists realize. Islands are on the edge of the vast ocean and can sweep people in.
Dry Humor
Wet tile.
This is exactly why those prank videos of people putting butter on the tiles for people to slip on make me so angry. You can kill someone surprisingly easily that way, it's not funny at all.
Oh god. There's a viral video of a dude doing this to himself as a joke and he slips and kicks a counter or something and compound fractures his toe and I've only seen it once but my whole body is miserable just thinking about it.
Keep Brushing
Poor dental hygiene can lead to heart disease.
This literally happened to my grandpa this last weekend, well at least they caught it this last weekend and he needed a 4 hour surgery to fix it. He's doing ok now but is still in the hospital.
At first they thought it was a stroke because his right side was numb, and they thought he was having mini heart attacks. The heart attacks were actually seizures brought on by the sinus infection putting pressure on his brain.
Through the Pane
Springs in double pane windows. The windows are heavier than you think so the springs are pretty strong. A friend that works as a maintenance guy at an apartment complex posted a pic of one of the balancers (as they're called) that came lose and went completely through the motorcycle helmet he wears when replacing them.
It still cracked his skull, and the ER doc said if he wasn't wearing the helmet he would have definitely died. Scary to think something as simple as a window can kill you. We all know garage springs are dangerous, but so are window springs.
Water Douse GIF
Swift Kick
Walking around or behind a horse without keeping your hand on it.
Horses can get very scared very fast and a well placed kick can beak your neck, can even stop your heart.
If you must move around one, keep a hand on it after it is aware of your presence and slide it with you so it knows where you are, also stay very close to it the whole time so the potential kick has less wind-up.
CO Issues
Carbon monoxide, since you can't smell or taste it you won't know it's there.
CO terrifies me. We have like 6 detectors in our house. My mom went to high school with this kid who lost his entire family to CO a few years after graduation.
He and his wife had a new baby. They were at his parent's house for the holidays around Christmas. All of his extended family was there.
Their baby was having trouble breathing, so he and his wife took the baby to the ER. By the time they got back, everyone else was dead of carbon monoxide poisoning. He lost his whole family.
Local codes only require 1 CO detector in the whole house. We've got them outside all the bedrooms, by the furnace room, by the dryer, etc. I don't mess around with that stuff.
A Bad Grip
Saving someone with a heimlich grip. You can definitely rupture someone's organs with this move and people have died as a result of being saved by this procedure. Always send someone to the hospital after doing this as the victim might otherwise bleed to death in their sleep that night.
Just a Dash....
Eating cinnamon.
Was looking to see if anyone said this. Cinnamon will dry your mouth and throat out badly, it'll mess you up quick. That whole cinnamon spoonful fad a few years ago (maybe more than a few, I'm getting old) was super dangerous. I don't remember if anyone died, but I know people ended up in the hospital.
funny walk crossing the street GIF
Add Jelly
Eating peanut butter directly out of the jar with a spoon. If you choke on it, it's going to be nearly impossible to dislodge.
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/18/magazine/l-dangerous-peanut-butter-227906.html
But do you eat it as one giant mouthful? That sounds really unpleasant honestly. I often take a big spoonful but I don't just shove that spoon directly in my mouth afterwards. You gotta savor that sh!t because it's like 400-500 calories.
The Obvi
Jesse Pinkman Reaction GIF by Breaking Bad
Giphy
For a serious (and somewhat generic) answer, probably not getting enough sleep or not drinking enough water, I am guilty of both of these things but it can really make you feel like utter crap and lead to serious health complications.
Steps
My answer: stairs.
I fell down the stairs when I was 13 and couldn't sit for like 2 months and I now have a bony bump on my hip 10 years later
In hindsight I wonder if I mildly broke my pelvis and it healed wrong?
But yeah. Stairs can seriously mess you up.
I have it!
Shingles. It is already inside you!!
It is miserable. I had shingles at 30 on my right side shoulder, neck, scalp and ear mostly. It can come back again, and in a different place. I am scared of it being on my face and blinding me.
Not Funny
"Pranking" someone with allergies by giving them a little bit of that allergen (I've seen articles of people putting peanuts into an allergic person's food).
What the hell? That's not a prank, that's straight up attempted murder.
My friend is deathly allergic to peanuts and tree nuts and one time a kid chased him around with peanuts in his hand. Kid got suspended. Food allergies are not something to mess around with.
Listen Ladies....
surprised woman GIF
Giphy
Leaving a tampon in too long can cause toxic shock syndrome and it can be deadly.
Crispy
Sunburns can be very dangerous.
Normally you don't think too much of them, just a few days of irritated/itchy skin, but if you aren't careful you drastically increase your chance of getting malignant melanoma (skin cancer) through a handful of decent sunburns.
High Tension
Garage door springs.
I am very handy and can fix everything around the house. But I don't mess with garage door springs. I call the experts in for that one.
Anything with such a high amount of tension is so dangerous, when I think about it it's quite terrifying that we use these things so frequently.
Kitty has Claws
cat mountain GIF by Cheezburger
Giphy
A cat scratching you and breaking the skin. Cat's claws carry a deadly bacteria that, if untreated, can kill you.
Emotions are Fragile
Emotional neglect - when you have ' everything '. People always brush it off as being too needy or whatever, but in reality life long emotional neglect especially during childhood development it can impact your life deeply. You can become depressed, anxious and have anxiety. If you suspect that you might suffer from this I have plenty of resources to help guide you to healing and growth. Comment or message.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Curious to hear about some of the more creepy indiscretions people get away with, Redditor Flytechofficial asked:
"What is perfectly legal, but creepy as hell?"
These things that happen in public restrooms can be considered criminal.
Respecting Splash Zones
"Using the urinal next to me when there were plenty of other choices."
Nightmare For The Pee-Shy
"hanging out in a public bathroom timing how long people pee."
Bad Timing
"I swear to God. I did a lot of work in hospitals for a while, big f'king hospitals with tons of bathrooms all over the place. For some God damned reason, regardless of what time or bathroom I selected to take a sh*t in not 30 seconds after I sat down a janitor would knock on the door to clean the bathroom. It's not as if it was one janitor, just some random janitor would inevitably need to clean whatever bathroom I was in as soon as I got comfy. It's like I was being stalked by the janitors."
"So now I'm trying to take a sh*t knowing full well there's somebody out there actively timing how long it takes."
Looky-Loo
"I was drunk in a casino and went to use the washroom. The floors in there were a polished marble or something. Sitting on the toilet, pants down, my stall neighbour made eye contact with me on the reflective floor tile."
The following examples involving minors have no legal repercussions.
Outside Watchers
"Technically, you can stand on the sidewalk and stare into someone's house through a window. It's not illegal as long as you stay off of their property, but it's really freaking creepy."
Keeping Tabs On Someone's Age
"A national newspaper having a countdown for when a child actress becomes 'legal' for sex."
"Answers to questions that will surely come. ....Yes. The Sun (UK). Emma Watson."
– pdirth
The Young Subjects
"When I was a child, we had a creepy horrible neighbor that would harass my family constantly. One of the things he did was stand at the corner of his yard and videotape me playing in a pool with my friends (we were around 8). My parents called the police but were told that it's legal if he's on his property."
These perfectly harmless examples can give you goosebumps.
Macabre
"Hanging your doll collection from the trees in your yard using string made from human hair."
People's Taste
"I believe the act of cannibalism itself is legal so long as you didn't murder anyone to do it. If your homie gives you his arm to gnaw on, it's fair game."
I recently treated myself by going to a movie theater after what seemed like a long hiatus for much of the year.
Streaming blockbuster movies from home, while convenient, has never made as much of an impact when compared to the moviegoing experience.
But after my recent trip to our local AMC, I'm beginning to think watching entertainment from the comfort of my quiet home is a much better option.
I forgot that a good majority of audience members are disrespectful and pretty much ignore all the rules—including no texting or talking during the movie.
The normal volume conversations and the number of lit screens from people's smartphone's in my peripheral vision throughout the movie were huge distractions.
Maybe as I'm getting older, my patience has worn thin, or I happened to have a particularly unpleasant experience. But seriously, how can anyone enjoy going to the movies when people are constantly updating their status inside a darkened auditorium?
It should illegal. Rant over.
I feel like if there is nothing after life, it just invalidates life. But maybe I'm just dramatic. I hope there is peace. Thoughts?
black and white two funerals GIFTogether...
"When we die, the whole world as seen by us, dies together with us."
"Yes it does. As does the entire universe. Only when we are alive can we experience the passage of time. The instant we die the entire universe will experience heat death and cease to be. It my take a million eons but since we can no longer experience time it will be relatively instantaneous."
- OkEbb749
Thanks Alan
"It's one of the great wonders of life: What will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up? And if you think long enough about that, something will happen to you. You will find out, among other things, that it will pose the next question to you: What was it like to wake up after never having gone to sleep? That was when you were born. You see, you can't have an experience of nothing. Nature abhors a vacuum. ~Alan Watts"
So Romantic...
"When I was much younger, I had a dream where I died. Not a typical dream, not a romanticized dream. It was a dream where I was an archer in a medieval battle. About 5 minutes into the battle, chaos was all around me, and I watched an opposing archer aim and loose an arrow straight into my left eye."
"I remember the sensation of impact, ringing in my ears, and falling to the ground. I remember the warmth of the blood on my face. The feeling of life leaving my body, and the sense of worry evaporating into warmth and peace as the world left behind me."
"I remember waking up shortly after thinking that the feeling and reality of that experience was so vivid and so detailed that it must have been an experience from a previous incarnation hundreds of years ago. From that moment on, I've never feared the actual process of death. I feel like I've experienced it many times before."
Erase
Computer Reaction GIFGiphy"I think one of your best friends delete's your browsing history."
"Take the hard drive out of my computer at home… Put it in the bath… And make sure it's completely wiped. -Tensai Slime"
If you love me... rule number one... HIDE THE EVIDENCE!!! Let that be heard far and wide. And dreams, always so intertwined aren't they?
Before & After
Happy Baby GIFGiphy"Exactly the same as before you were born."
- whumoon
"I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. -Mark Twain"
Moving On...
"We clean the bed and assign it to another patient."
"The REAL reason why nurses are so dark. 90 year old man in hospice got hit by a car on his way to get fitted for his funeral tuxedo, and didn't have a DNR. Kept him alive for four hours, and now it's time to document everything that was done to save his life because there will inevitably be a lawsuit from a family member who has had four years to say goodbye but somehow didn't get to."
Again...
"Play again?
Yes
[No]
I don't know what they mean or how to utilize them. I'm a Buddhist (but a gamer first and foremost) so it's cool you guys made those connections This totally makes up for r/movies continuously banning me."
Oblivion...
"I've answered this one before but here it is again. Either two things happen after you die: you either go somewhere or it's oblivion. If it is oblivion, then we're just going back to the same place before we were born and there's nothing wrong with that. We were there for billions or trillions of years, possibly infinity."
"You lose that concept of time since your brain doesn't work anymore so you don't even know it's over. It's not nothing because nothing would be something and that means that you are aware, which you can not be if you're dead. If we do go somewhere, then that's something no one understands because no one has ever come back to tell us."
"Those stories of people coming back after they "died" and "saw stuff" weren't really dead. Their hearts stopped but their brains were still working. If the Universe continues to recycle itself infinitely, then there's a chance we will be reborn or continuously reborn but have no memory of our previous selves."
- jamoh20
On Holiday
"When I was a kid I drowned while on holiday with my family, a giant fat man jumped in the pool on top of me and no one noticed till I was on the bottom of the pool. I remember the feeling of my lungs being on fire, then shivering then as everything was going dark a strange sense of peace and I was ok with it, No panic or terror then it went black."
"I was resuscitated at the side of the pool a few minutes later. I remember nothing from the black to being "alive" again. I was around 7 when it happened and since then I've been strangely at peace with the fact that one day I will die and slip into the dark void of nothingness. Hope that helps."
Popcorn?
500 days of summer cinema GIFGiphy"You wake up in a chair in a cinema and learn that the other are past lives of you and you're about to watch your next life very soon on the big screen."
The truth is none of us know the truth. We live everyday with the afterlife being a gamble. And that seems like it's going to have to be enough.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.