The human condition is a fragile thing. In the blink of an eye our lives can be over just like that.
And some of those ways that our lives can simply disappear are just plain awful. While death itself is already scary enough, there are some ways of dying that sound so painful and terrible to experience.
u/sydthef*ckdown asked:
Here were some of those answers.
Terminator 2 Style
There was a comment on here about a worker at a steel works who committed suicide by jumping in the molten steel crucible. Because it was liquid he expected to drown in it, unaware that the density of molten metal is the same as solid metal, so he just skittered across the surface and fried to death. Brutal.
IF
Strychnine Poisoning. It can be inhaled, consumed, or absorbed through wet tissue (like the nose, mouth, or eyes).
It causes your voluntary nervous system to go into overdrive, which makes every muscle in your body contract and spasm uncontrollably. These spasms can be strong enough to rip the muscles off your bones.
If untreated, death usually comes within 2-3 hours either from asphyxiation (your chest muscles spasm so hard your ribs cannot expand), or from sheer exhaustion.
There is no antidote to strychnine, although if caught immediately you can be put in sensory deprivation on massive doses of muscle relaxers. If you survive the first 24 hours, you usually live. IF.
Insult To Injury
Severe radiation poisoning is pretty horrifying. It can take up to two weeks to kill you, during which time your body will fall apart at the molecular level while you're still alive. In some cases they can't even give you effective pain killers because your veins become so fragile they can't handle an injection. Oh, and just to mess with you, you'll start to feel better after a couple days, but that's just the calm before your skin starts to die.
Horribly Baked
A friend of mine used to be a crime-scene cleanup guy.
He was once called in to clean up a car where an infant had been forgotten in a car during the summer in Kansas, where it was well over a hundred degrees outside. Cars turn into ovens.
He quit after that.
Too Long Alone
Knew an old guy who lived alone, he had been walking around confused one day asking for someone to help him get an inhaler. They got him figured out and took him back home. The next thing we knew, he had died in the shower with the hot water still running days later. It was assumed he was having difficulty breathing and the hot moist air did not help him any, and he passed out and hit his head. He was found... with some parts of him floating in this sludgy mix which had accumulated over the days he was left under the water.
Slowly Poisoned
My friend worked on the liver ward at the hospital. If you are suicidal and overdose on Panadol /Tylenol it takes 3 days to die in extreme pain. She said they would have people in weekly who had taken a panadol/ Tylenol overdose and by the time they got to the ward they had changed their mind, so this person who now wanted to live died an agonising death filled with shame in front of their friends and relatives.
Rats On Rats On Rats
I read a story about a man trying to rob a place by crawling through a sewer-pipe. He became lodged in it with his hands around his waist trying to squirm through a narrow part.
The rats found him. Actually, just his face. They used his face as a buffet for days. There were a few dead rats around that he'd bitten to death because he couldn't use his hands. Other rats arrived to partake of the feast.
He did not make it.
Below Surface
Not the most horrible way I know or have seen but still one that I hate to think about.
At my local water park a kid who was 10 same age as me at the time, Drowned. Now the way he drowned is when he went down the water slide and at the end when you slide into a pool there was the pipeline that sucks water back up to the top. Now this pipeline had a grate on it but it sucked with great force. It use to pull kids towards it as you tried to swim out and it was kinda a fun game to out swim it. Until one day a kid went under and got held onto the grate of the pipe and could not swim away. He drowned and was only found 20 min later when his mom went looking for him. This pipe was probably about 6 meters away from where you slide into the pool. Just the thought of being so small and helpless as you get held under and drown and just watching other kids land in the pool and swim to safety, all having fun. I don't know it just gets to me not even being able to call for help when it is so close.
Rome Said "No"
There was a Roman execution technique known as the Body of Death. (For anyone interested, this is actually the allusion that the Apostle Paul makes in his letter to the Romans by saying "Who shall free me from this body of death?")
The punishment was often given to murderers, and it consisted of the body of the murdered victim being sewn onto the back of the murderer. Over time, the rot (disease, maggots, etc.) would move from the corpse into the living persons body, slowly killing them. Furthermore, anyone caught trying to help the person being punished would be subject to the same punishment.
This is why Rome was truly the most metal empire to exist.
No Way To Travel
The lady that was on a Southwest plane when something blew up and broke the window and sucked her halfway out of the 10x14 window hole.
That one.
Of course, most of the time, it was “just a phase". And looking back, those phases are regrettable, to say the least. Here are some prime examples of that.
SirGergoyFriendman asked:
What was your biggest/most regrettable "It's not a phase, mom. It's my life." that, in fact, turned out to be just a phase and not your life?
The enthusiasm of a young person can lead to some unexpected changes that parents are just not ready for.
Hi, Wheeljack!
I was VERY into The Transformers when I was a wee lad in the 1980s. One day, I decided to change my name to the name of my favorite Autobot. My name was lame, and I wanted an awesome Transformer name. And I was VERY insistent that my parents only call me by my new name. Calling me by my 'old' name would cause a big fat tantrum on my part.
So for the better part of a week, my poor parents had to call me Wheeljack.
Very 2008.
Ariana Grande Shrug GIFGiphyMy cat-ear phase. I wore cat ears every single day. Everywhere. I had like 20 pairs of them. Now everyone thinks I'm a furry.
I find that very cute and wouldn't have thought you'd be furry. Even if you'd had cat mittens. I think my suspicions would have started if you moved a bit like a cat, displayed catlike grooming habits or got a cat mask.
Not gonna lie, that car sounds cool.
I went to a car show once as a teen, and the only newer car there was some chick's PT cruiser. It was hot glittery pink, and at the time I was obsessed. I insisted that one day I would have a hot pink car, with pink seats, pink dash, pink carpets, etc. I was pretty heavily goth at the time, so my parents just rolled their eyes.
These phases can often lead to some very strange fashion choices.
That’s commitment.
When I was a teenager (early 00s), I was waiting for my mother to pick me up and was wearing one of those sh!tty sports wristwatches. It was itching me so I took it off for a second, but then she arrived and because I was struggling to get it back on my wrist, I looped it around the equally sh!tty chain I had around my neck in a rush to get out the door.
My mom asked me about it in the car, and I told her this was my new style and I planned to wear it like that every day. She rolled her eyes.
I wore that watch on a chain around my neck every single day for 3 years or so. There are even professional family photos where I'm wearing it because I refused to take it off.
One day, the chain broke and I lost the watch. I was in high school at that point anyway and it was a major lady repellent, so... phase over.
Not everyone can be Eminem.
slim shady eminem GIFGiphyBaggy pants, being a rapper someday and being a professional skater.
When I was about 14 and Eminem was starting to blow up I bought myself a keyboard with a synthesizer. It cost like $200 which was all the money I had saved up. It finally came (this was way before amazon prime and such) and I tried rapping.
My sister told me "you're effing horrible" and I gave up right then and there.
This should be a sin.
I used to button the top buttons of polo shirts.
I must say, this is probably the worst one I've read.
Looking back at our regrettable choices, all we can do is cringe.
An optimistic look at bad tattoos.
check me out season 3 GIF by PortlandiaGiphyBeing a tattooer. Regrettable because of those poor people who have my awful doodles on their bodies.
Take heart! My favorite tattoo is the one I drunkenly got my buddy to do in his living room one year during March Madness! It's dumb and frankly mediocre? But such a good story and has such good associations I smile every time I see it.
RIP Fredro’s.
My friend and I decided we were going to open a bar in Jamaica with exotic snakes in glass cages in the walls at each booth. We convinced ourselves it would be amazing for at least two years in college. It was going to be called Fredro's.
My entire family made fun of me for it. Once we got out of college, we realized it was not feasible and joined the office grind. We're also two white guys with no ties to Jamaica.
Talk about cringey.
I wore a top hat with an anime pin on it for around a year. Met one of my current best friends while wearing it, idk how he could bear to speak to me after that.
My weirdest phase was probably when I insisted on wearing knee-high rainbow socks to school every day. But honestly, I don't regret it. I rocked those socks, and I wish I still have a pair.
To all the people out there cringing over their past selves, remember that you were just a kid, and to be easy on yourselves. After all, we've all been there
Yet, too often, manufacturers who oversell their products fail to deliver what is promised and are inevitably left with angry customers who want their money back.
Whether the merchandise was defective or ridiculously overpriced, strangers online shared some of their worst purchases when Redditor BooksMcGee asked:
"What is the worst product you ever paid money for?"
Short Life Span
"This NERF gun that's supposed to shoot tennis balls for your dog. I bought it cause I thought you could load 3 at a time and shoot them far, but it's just one and it's super loud and the gun broke after like 4 shots (reading reviews later, this was a common issue)."
Lame Pets
"There were these toys called squiggles when I was a kid and the commercials made it seem like the toy was alive. It looked like you would get this crazy little fuzzy worms as pets that would follow you around an so sick tricks and listen to your every command. It was really just a piece of fluffy string tied to another piece of string with googly eyes on it. People may say that it was supposed to be a magic trick but they should also explain that to a 5 year old who really wanted a pet."
Card Value
"Not their fault, but I paid $70 for a Yugioh card hours before it was limited to one copy. Probably dropped to $20 by the end of the day."
These purchases were bad for your bum.
"A bicycle that literally fell apart before I made it out of the parking lot."
Not Worth Sitting On
"Joybird brand couch. Was so terrible, we returned it. Still hard to believe, we returned a freaking couch."
Going Nowhere Fast
"A 2000 VW Beetle (used)."
"Biggest piece of sh*t that literally had to have just about everything replaced before 100k miles and would still break down every time you left the driveway to the point where the tow-truck driver knew us on a first-name basis."
Expensive Lemon
"An Oldsmobile Achieva from one of those buy here pay here places. I should have known better, but I was young and thought I was getting a good deal. I had the thing for about 5 months, I drove it for maybe 3 weeks. The rest of the time it was either in the shop, or in my driveway waiting until pay day so I could afford to fix whatever broke on it this week. Eventually told the dealer just take it, I'm not paying for it any more. He said nope, and I will make sure your credit is ruined. I said well you sold me a lemon, do you really want to go this route? He came and took it. Never reported anything to credit. I heard he got sued by several other people who sold sh**ty cars too and eventually went out of business."
"Always amazes me when I see them driving around still, I can only assume there's enthusiasts who just love repairing horribly designed cars."
– zerbey
These Redditors were not convinced what they ingested was edible.
Bad Cereal
"A box of plain Cheerios. Thought they were honey nut, poured a bowl, was very disappointed."
"If I wanted to taste cardboard, I'd just eat the box."
– gor8884
Space Pizza
"A burnt frozen pizza at the air and space museum cafe in DC. I Don't wish that experience on anyone. There are some amazing restaurants in DC, don't settle."
– Alseids
The following electronics just gave off a bad charge.
"Asus Transformer Pad TF700"
"This was one of those early 'high end' Android tablets that was grossly underpowered, and it showed. Thing was slow as sh!t in no time flat. Rookie mistake investing into shiny new tech while they were still working all the bugs out. Think I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $350-400 for it..."
– Luke5119
Bad Apple
"macbook pro 2018 13" touchbar. 2 years old and dead (battery). they're asking $300-$400 to change the battery. malfunctioning keyboard with double presses and missing presses. that's a lot of money for bad design."
Chilly Reception
"Past winter my old room heater broke down and I had to buy a new one. Went to a store nearby and somehow got convinced to buy a very costly heating device.. It's also my fault, since there were some sligthly cheaper options around, but nope. I wanted the expensive one thinking it will make my small room a volcano with little to no effort/cost (that's also what the seller told me). Long story short the device wasn't doing ANYTHING. No significant temperature changes, too much space, a weird noise, and was doubling my previous device in utility cost. I still gloom over those 80 euros.."
Some of my disappointing purchases was clothing, but only because I purchased them online. Unless they are a brand I'm familiar with, I'm usually fine with buying new jeans off of their websites.
But when it comes to graphic tees only available on specialty shops, an M-size shirt is not necessarily the same size as those found in other reputable stores.
I bought a medium sized T-shirt from a boutique store online because I loved the look of the design. But when it arrived, the supposed medium fit me like an XL.
At least I gained a fierce cleaning rag from this impulsive purchase.