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People Reveal The Obvious Things They Didn't Realize Until Late in Life

People Reveal The Obvious Things They Didn't Realize Until Late in Life
Free-Photos/Pixabay

Realizations can come to us at any time, and they're usually a good thing. Sometimes they take a while, and can make us feel more than a little slow on the uptake.


Reddit user u/psychasinpsychic32 asked:

"Which two and two did you just recently put together?"

20.

Mr. Dink from the 90s cartoon 'Doug'. He and his wife are 'dinks' because it stands for 'dual income, no kids'....

If you recall Mr. Dink showing things off, that's why...

"Very expensive!"

-EveyStuff

19.

I race cars in an amateur league. There is a blue 240sx with the name "blue Bayou". I always thought they were from Louisiana or something until the other day when I realized it sounds like "blew by you"

-McDewbie

18.

Whenever you see weather stations on the news and notice "Hey I wonder why they went with some random town in the area when there are other bigger ones nearby?" Its likely because there's a regional airport or small airfield. They all need accurate weather for planes to take off including wind direction, intensity, and barometric pressure...so they have all the equipment available to show the bigger picture locally.

-foreverkasai

17.

Jackie Chan is one person. My first language is spanish, so I always thought it was "Jack y Chan." The only movie I had seen him in was one with Owen Wilson, so I thought Owen Wilson was Jack and Chan was Jackie Chan.

-heyheyyouyou

16.

Sonic the Hedgehog's best friend is named Miles Prower. "Miles Per Hour."

How the heck did this take nearly 30 years of life to see.

-TheMike85

15.

In Spanish, hats are called "sombrero" because they make "sombra" (shade)

-rocketpants

I'm Spanish. I just reallized that.

-TheUnknownsLord

14.

I have heard the words hors d'oeuvres many times.

I have seen the words hors d'oeuvres many times.

I only put together that they are the same word last week.

-intangible-tangerine

13.

A chum bucket is where you'd keep fish guts, possibly explaining why Plankton's restaurant ain't so busy.

-MoonpiesForMisfits

12.

No me but a boss of mine just realized you can count the steps on a ladder to tell how tall it is.

-shootthemoon88

11.

There's a meme going around about making sure your young kids go to classmates' birthday parties because it's devastating to be a kid and have nobody come to yours. And I thought that I was damn lucky that even though I didn't cast a wide net of friends, everybody always came to my birthday party.


My mom was a teacher at my school. It never occurred to me until recently that SOME of those kids had a vested interest in making sure they came to my birthday party.

-gameshowutopia

10.

Why they are called "contact" lenses.

-Kesira22

"Feels like there's something in my eye." —me, at my first contact lens fitting

-nayhem_jr

9.

Ore-Ida potatoes. Crossed Oregon state line where factory was, into Idaho. Just then realized name.

-vicsfoolsparadise

8.

PGP encryption that a lot of large businesses use stand for 'Pretty Good Privacy'.

It's good to know data security is so important.

-farleyx1

7.

Cul de sac means 'bottom of the bag' as in the only way out is where you came from. And my first language is French :/

-dayglo98

6.

WWE wrestler The Undertaker's long-time valet was named Paul Bearer as in someone who carries your casket.

I'm embarrassed.

-silentjosh817

5.

The blacks of the eye are black because there's nothing there.

It's just a hole.

You're seeing inside their eyeball, but you can't see anything because there's no light in there.

-Zorafin

The red pupils that you get from flash on a camera are from that light shining on your retinas and their blood supply. Some other animals, like cats, have a special tissue behind their retinas which can reflect back blue, green, or yellow light with flash.

-fortheviewersathome

4.

Always thought whipped cream was difficult to make. My friends and I would get excited and impressed that this crepe place would make their whipped cream in-house, as advertised for an extra $1.50.

Can't begin to tell you how dumb I felt one day when I realized... It is literally whipped... cream.

-ftwoo

3.

Despite living in various houses growing up my dad's closet would always smell the exact same way; he said it was the "mothballs" that he used.

Later when I tried pot for the first time I said "This smells like mothballs!"

Everyone looked at me funny, and it still took days until I finally realized what that meant.

-Sabrick

2.

When I was a little kid, my dad had some friends over to drink beer and watch a movie. My mom made me play in the other room, because "this wasn't a movie for kids." So I was playing in the living room as the men laughed, cracked jokes and loud music blasted from the other room.

Eventually I wanted to see what the fuss was about, so I crept into the room in time to see a beefy, mostly-naked man chained to a bed. Immediately the men start shouting "get him out of here! Turn off the movie! He shouldn't see this!" and they hustle me out of the room.

Being about six or seven, I put the pieces together and think "they were watching that man get tortured!"

Later, in my teens, a different answer occurred to me. "They were watching adult movie... they were watching gay bondage" But it didn't make sense. None of them were gay, my mom was right there.

Years later I realized what should have been obvious given my long association with the stage show: they had been watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I walked in on the scene where Rocky breaks free of Frank's bedroom to run for freedom.

-Bears_On_Stilts

1.

At the end of first grade the teacher asked the class "so who wants to stay here with me next year?" We all threw up our hands up excited, and she picked one of us. That kid stayed behind when we went to second grade.

I think about this once in a while and feel thankful she didn't pick me.

Last time I thought about this I realized that I've been missing the mark. That specific student was being left behind that year and the teacher did it in the smoothest way possible.

-Turok1990

People Explain How An Accident Completely Changed Their Lives

Reddit user NoFile9376 asked: 'What happened by a total accident but changed your life completely?'

Life can change in a moment, but sometimes, we're not even aware that it's in the process of changing.

Right in front of our eyes, we've taken a job, met a person, or purchased a product that will change our lives in a big way.

Or on the negative side, maybe we're having the unluckiest of days, where we feel the lowest of the low, only for it to lead to something incredible.

The point is, there's no telling what incredible thing is around the corner waiting for us, or what small moment will lead us there.

Redditor NoFile9376 asked:

"What happened totally by accident but changed your life completely?"

Unique Opportunities

"I went for a coffee with a friend before he went out to pitch a TV show in LA. He asked what I was up to, and I mentioned the comic book I was planning to write."

"His pitch went well and the studio asked if he had any sci-fi ideas. He pitched my idea, and a month later I was in LA with a bunch of agents and managers wanting to sign me."

"We got close with that sci-fi concept, and I worked in LA on and off for about a decade working on a lot of cool stuff that never got made, but I got paid very well, so I can’t complain."

"It was basically ‘Oceans 11 in space,’ and it still gets dusted off every now and again. It’s one of those things that everyone loves but never gets made."

"When the pandemic hit, I started writing comics and have been doing that for a few years now. I have a new movie spec script planned for the new year, so I guess we’ll be taking that out and see if anyone bites."

- MikeSizemore

Unappreciative Bosses

"The water main leading into the house burst, requiring the contractors to lay a new pipe from the street into the first floor. I had to clear everything out, and then go get jugged water to last a week for a family of four."

"I asked to take the afternoon off work so I could take care of this, and they said it would be a write-up for an unexcused absence."

"This p**sed me off to no end because I had recouped hundreds of thousands of dollars that my predecessor had lost and generally unf**ked their processes."

"Not really intending to quit, I rage-applied to jobs just to blow off steam and landed a new job with a $30,000 pay boost, WFH (Work From Home), and complete schedule flexibility."

- pinelands1901

The Power of Saying 'Thank You'

"I got into some trouble while very, very drunk."

"When I got sober, I wrote a thank you note to someone who treated me really well and urged me to get help."

"He was friends with the editor of the local newspaper and thought my letter was well-written. He asked if he could show her and I said yes, then kinda forgot about it."

"A few months later, the editor came to find me to offer me a part-time job filling in for someone."

"I've been working in journalism ever since. The pay sucks, but I love it."

- LizardPossum

A Smooth Career Redirection

"Getting my Class A commercial driver's license."

"I basically tried the majority of work that an individual can get into with a GED (General Educational Diploma)."

"I randomly searched the internet for truck driver jobs out of curiosity. The top of the list was a small form to fill out. A recruiter called me within five minutes. They set me up with a bus ticket to their training facility two states over and lodging for the duration."

"All I had to do was bring enough cash and clothes for a week. They paid enough to feed me the rest of the training. I had an over-the-road job lined up for me right out of training. All I had to do was stick it out with that company for at least a year to cover training costs."

"Boom, entry into a skilled labor field at d**n near no upfront cost, and a guaranteed minimum one year of incredibly valuable experience. This was back in 2008."

"And for what it’s worth. I didn’t even own my own vehicle yet back then. And I only tried manual transmission vehicles twice for maybe 10 minutes total prior to learning how to drive a 10-speed."

"Now, I can simply email or walk into a job that interests me with my resume and my experience speaks for itself. I don’t have to sell myself to an employer. They have to sell the job to me."

"I'm currently about to start up with a local company less than a five-minute drive from home, hauling mostly oversized loads up into and out of the mountains. It’s the highest starting wage I’ve ever had, with a guaranteed multiple dollars per hour raise once I demonstrate I can do everything they’ll need me to do."

"The moral of the story is, don’t be afraid to try something new or different. You might just be great at it."

- tumblevv33d

Going Surgery-Free

​"When I was younger, I had a neurological condition called hydrocephalus, which required me to have a shunt in my brain to keep me alive, and every few years, it would break or get infected and have to be replaced."

"About 20 years ago, I developed an infection that my neurosurgeon refused to take seriously, so it wasn't properly diagnosed for about two years after I moved away from that hospital and ended up in the ER."

"Long story short, thanks to some faulty medical equipment that by some weird coincidence wasn't doing its job properly, while I waited for surgery, we discovered that I wasn't actually using my shunt and I didn't need it anymore. So surgery was canceled, and once the infection cleared up, I was sent home."

"It was a really, really awful couple of years, but it ultimately gave me my life back. I'm now 15 years surgery-free and as much as I hate the way it happened, I wouldn't change a thing because if it had happened any other way I would have just had another brain surgery, and then another, and so on."

- NotAngryAndBitter

A Mysterious Lump

"My mother went to the doctor for a routine exam and her doctor noticed a bump on her arm my mom passed off as a cyst. She removed the bump, which she also believed was a cyst, and sent it for a biopsy to be safe."

"Results came back and they weren’t really sure what to make of it. It wasn’t cancer but it wasn’t nothing either."

"Turns out she had a very rare cancer that appeared benign but behaved malignant."

"The doctors had no idea how to treat it, even reaching out to other doctors all over the world."

"She died two years later once it had spread all over her body."

"The kicker is they believe if the initial bump would’ve been left alone it wouldn’t have spread and killed her."

"It’s been two years, five months, and 17 days since she’s been gone, and I will never stop missing her."

- Khaleesi1998

A Second Chance

"I made a left turn instead of a right turn when I noticed a restaurant I liked had closed. I reopened it, and 35 years later, we are still going strong."

"It's not especially heartwarming, but it changed my life as well as my wife, my kids, and 28 employees' lives."

- bbqtom1400

The Choice to Stay a While

"I was working in a large state park as a guide/docent while finishing up my geology degree. I was only interested in science, talking about rock types and tectonics and whatnot."

"It got cold and windy FAST, and snow started coming down and soaking my clothes. I admittedly was not prepared and ducked into a cabin I came across that I thought would be empty."

"It wasn’t. There was a historical interpreter doing traditional chair seat weaving in the cabin. Fire in the hearth and all."

"He said, 'Take your shoes off and stay a while.' Let’s just say that MULTIPLE years later, I own one of the most respected furniture restoration businesses in the state and specialize in antique Appalachian rockers."

"I visit the old man in the nursing home weekly. I go out to the cabin once a month or so to relax and demonstrate to passersby. I took my shoes off and stayed a while."

"P.S. Geology is still cool."

- Most-Cow-2474

The Other Guy

"I accidentally accepted a friend request of (my now husband), thinking it was another guy I knew with a similar name. I was ignoring the request before."

"And the rest is history. We've been married for 12 years, now with two kids."

"The website was Orkut if any of you are old enough to remember it, lol (laughing out loud)."

- zenzephyr42

A Doubly Good Deed

"I was planning to spend $2.49 on a breakfast sandwich and go home to do some chores. They had a two-for-three dollar breakfast sandwich deal."

"I brought the 51-cent bonus sandwich and gave it to a homeless friend. He had a tiny stray puppy following him around and asked me to bring her to the shelter because he couldn't feed her and himself."

"She became my best friend for 13 1/2 years! I'll love you and miss you forever, baby dog!"

- JensElectricWood

It All Began with a Broken Phone

"I dropped my phone from my bed onto the floor and the screen (with the protector) COMPLETELY shattered, which is weird because I’ve dropped my phone from bigger heights and bad angles and there’s usually just dents in the protector."

"Anyway, I was out a phone and super broke, and I didn't have the money to get it fixed right away. None of my friends had extra phones so I posted on my then-company’s slack channel, asking if anyone had a spare phone I could borrow, just for calls and texts, nothing fancy, and I’d be super grateful."

"I was also going through a terrible heartbreak where I’d been love-bombed and then dropped in a second. It was just an awful time."

"So one person responded to my shot in the dark and offered this extra phone he has. I had no clue who he was or what he even did in the company, even though I have several friends in the company. We’d never met because we both worked remotely and no one ever mentioned him to me."

"Our departments were also very different so there was no interaction ever. I was also a bit confused as to why he’d offer a phone to someone he didn’t even know. I thought he was too trusting, lol (laughing out loud)."

"Anyway, he couriered me the phone, I ended up needing it for longer as I saved up, and we finally met up in person a few months later. Long story short, it’s been a couple of years, and he became my best friend and then my SO (significant other)."

"For the first time in my life, I know what healthy, unconditional love is, he is the embodiment of love that keeps on giving. I grew up seeing an abusive marriage so my idea of love and relationships was completely skewed (still learning in progress). But with him, my heart’s calm. He’s my biggest fan and my rock whenever the going gets tough. There’s no one like him. I don’t know anyone as generous in love as he is."

"I remember that time and being absolutely gutted that not only had I got my heart broken in the most miserable way but my phone freakishly completely broke from the shortest of falls, all in a matter of a week."

"I felt so unlucky for the longest time. But looking back now, I’m so glad my phone broke that day (and my then-bf ghosted me). Or there was just no way I’d have ever met the love of my life."

- fluffypoopkins

The Love of a Sibling

"My brother asked out a girl when they were 17."

"My brother started dating this random girl. He needed a job so he started working at the company where her family worked. Next year, I needed a summer job, so they got me a job at the same company. I liked the job and kept working at the company long after my brother and her broke up."

"At 21, I took a job in another state to further that career and moved 700 miles away from home. Now my partner, all my friends, my hobbies, everything that is my adult life is because of that move."

"My brother randomly dating a girl for a year when we were teens changed literally everything about my life."

- ColSurge

The Vital Wake-Up Call

"I almost failed out of college. I tried to up my GPA by doing research WAY too early in my academic career. I met a professor who didn’t even work at my university. I had a brief conversation with him in the lab and he said, 'You’d make a great professor one day.'"

"It changed the course of my life. I scraped by with my Bachelor of Science and was one of the top students in my Master's program. I got a 4.0 for my PhD with several first-author papers."

"Now I work for one of the top professors in my field, I’m talking top three percent."

"That conversation was over 10 years ago. Thank you, Dmitry. I would’ve never met you if I wasn’t failing."

- zagottamove

For the Love of Language

"I randomly decided to take German instead of French when in school as my foreign language the day before class started."

"I'm now a German teacher. It's wild how such a small decision shaped my entire life."

- zapolight

Meant to Be

"I went in on my day off work, thinking I had a shift that day."

"I didn’t but they were short-staffed for the lunch rush, so I stayed for a few hours."

"I ran into my childhood friend who moved away 15 years prior."

"We are now married with kids."

- bree-marie92

These stories are undeniably surprising, and it's incredible how such small moments created such big results in most of these Redditors' cases.

It's important to remember to never take our lives for granted, because there's really no telling what small moment will lead to greatest next phase of our lives.

College classroom
Dom Fou/Unsplash

Many high school graduates face the conundrum of what to major in when they go on to pursue higher education.

Teens who haven't already sparked an interest in a particular field by the time they graduate wind up buying more time waiting for enlightenment by electing "undecided."

But to avoid any stigma of being an idle scholar, some students settle on majors they thought never existed.

"Fun with pasta," anyone?

While such a major might not exist, I wouldn't put it past some academia for coming up with it.

Curious to hear what those unheard-of specialized fields of study are out there, Redditor GazelleHistorical705 asked:

"What is the most ridiculous college major you’ve ever heard of?"

Majors with one word, please.

Sounds Like A Hard Major

"PENIS. My school offered a major in Political Economy of Newly Industrialized Societies, but eventually realized the acronym and changed the name. Pity. I hope some were able to get their degrees with a concentration in PENIS."

– OhMaiMai

Hidden Objective

"Golf."

"It was made so the Vice Chancellor could buy a private golf course for the university, so he could play on it. I believe it had 5 enrollments ever, and one was a joke that didnt show up or pay. It got cancelled the first year, but he got to enjoy his own personal golf course for some years after."

jadelink88

Just Throwing Ideas

"Frisbee. A friends roommate at Amherst was in some kind of 'create your own major' thing and chose frisbee. His family had momey and college was just a formality."

– hightower65

Certain concepts as a major were hard to grasp.

Seed Of Despotism

"IIRC, like 20 years ago some college in Indiana offered a major in World Domination."

– Rev_Christopheles

"You can only get a job as a henchman with a BS."

"You need a full PhD to be an evil mastermind."

– JimBean823

A Vague Focus

"PhD in general studies."

– dravik

"Tf do you even write your dissertation about."

– Fragile_Line

"Everything."

– ProsciuttoPizza

"Generally."

– cropguru357

Let's Take It Outside

"An old friend has a Bachelor's degree in Outdoor Activities. He was never able to explain exactly what that meant, though."

– EnlargedBit371

"A guy I know majored in Recreation."

– kmsc87

"When I was there, my college had one of the top Parks Recreation and Tourism Management (PRTM) programs in the country."

"It had the nickname 'Party Right Through May.'”

"It was extremely popular with student athletes, especially football players."

"There’s always a demand for graduates too. It seems like one of those fields where you shouldn’t need a college degree to do the work, but you need one to get in the door."

– JimBeam823

Going At Your Own Pace

"When I was in uni my friend dated a guy who was majoring in leisure studies. I used to joke that leisure studies is a 4 year program, but if you’re good enough at it you can do it in 6."

– Mtldoggogogo

Things went up a notch.

Arghhh Ya Kiddin' Me?

"At MIT you can be certified in being a pirate if you complete the courses of pistol, archery, sailing, and fencing."

– yhdreytaweatrst

"It’s not a major, it’s a certificate. But if I ever get my own office it’s going in a very nice diploma frame and I’m gonna see who notices."

– PoorCorrelation

Veritable Hodgepodge

"My university had an Interdisciplinary Studies department that served mainly to get super duper seniors graduated. They would cobble together the random credits people got because they changed majors every semester into a 'degree.' You get some wild majors like a BA in Culinary Traditions and Music in the Former British Empire."

– pinelands1901

Sapphic Education

"My college briefly had a major in Nordic Lesbianism."

– WhizzleTeabags

"I've read many of the responses on here where most of them weren't ridiculous imo but you gave the best one!"

– 90DayTroll

"HUH."

– OP

Make It Up

"At a graduation at the University of Redlands. They have a degree whereby you basically take the classes you want and call it what you want."

"The degree conferred was, I kid you not: 'Still trying to figure out who I am.'”

– dmur726

Clearly there's a major for all occasions.

But at the end of the day, does it really matter as long as you have a BA in something to show you were academically tenacious?

Now go out there and carve out your own path, young scholars!

Just make sure you can pay off those student loans.

Maybe there should be a major on how to avoid debt.

human robot illustration

Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as:

"the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making and translation between languages."

AI is broken down into four types—from most basic to most advanced:

  1. Reactive machines
  2. Limited memory
  3. Theory of mind
  4. Self-awareness

The first two—reactive machines and limited memory—currently exist.

Reactive machines AI have no memory—it responds directly to current information. An example is a recommendation based on your streaming activity.

Limited memory looks into the past and monitors specific objects or situations over time, and adds the information to adapt responses. Self-driving cars are a good example of limited memory AI.

The other types—theory of mind and self-awareness—don't exist yet.

Theory of mind AI would be able to understand intentions and predict behavior while adjusting its own responses, simulating human interpersonal relationships.

The final step in AI is self-awareness. These would be systems that have a sense of self, a conscious understanding of their existence.

As AI advances, some human work functions will be done cheaper or more efficiently by AI.

Keep reading...Show less
man and woman holding hands

Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

According to the General Social Survey, 20% of married men and 13% of married women reported having sex with someone other than their spouse.

In the United States, 17% of all divorces cited adultery on the part of either or both parties.

But 70% of married women and 54% of married men reported they didn't know of their spouses’ extramarital affair until their spouse confessed.

And how did the other 30%-46% figure it out?

Keep reading...Show less