Redditor gaudiergash wanted to warn everyone about all the simple things that threaten our lives on the daily, so they asked:
"What are some everyday things that kill people because most don't know about it?"
Danger is all around.
Be alert!
Don't Forget
Warning Sign GIFGiphy"Carbon Monoxide is something everyone knows about but everyone also seems to forget about."
bottomless-bs
"Knew a girl from school, she and her family were all killed from carbon monoxide poisoning while staying at a cabin on New Year's weekend 2017. Her husband and two young kids. I still think about them going to bed, never to awaken."
hookersince06
Reach the Brain
"Poor dental hygiene and gum infections hit the brain fairly quickly and can be fatal before you even knew something was happening. So brush your teeth and talk to a dentist, most will try to work with you on the money side if you don't have insurance. If not try contacting a dental school near you, they are often looking for test subjects, I mean patients to work on for training."
SomeRandomUser00
"True stuff... this just killed my cousin."
FLAMES
"I know of a few things, all fire-related..."
"1. Pinched electrical wires - having, for example, a table leg or something on top of a wire creates a hot spot that can eventually start a fire."
"2. Toasters under cabinets - if you have a toaster on your countertop, and have cabinets mounted above that countertop, leaving the toaster directly under the cabinets while in use is also a fire hazard. be sure to pull it out from beneath the cabinets before use."
"3. Not sure if this one is still unknown by most people, but I'll add it just in case - water does not put out a grease fire, it makes it worse because the grease/oil is less dense and floats on top of the water and continues to burn, so pouring water on a grease fire is likely to just spread the grease and fire around. baking soda, a lid/cover of some kind, or of course a fire extinguisher will all smother the fire without spreading it around."
designer_sheets
In Defense
"Stress. Stress is a state when your body feels threatened and produces a hormone to defend yourself, which will typically boost your muscle and reduce to minimum other functions, like digestion, your kidneys, and overall all organs that aren't involved in fighting off a bear."
"If you're always stressed (Chronic stress), you will damage your organs. All of them. At once. Chronic stress is a poison, you must avoid it."
"Note that 'normal, episodic' stress like you're taking an exam today or you have 13 missed calls from mom isn't going to kill you. Well, not the stress at least."
Dahns
Drink Up
Season 7 Nbc GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Once read about someone who died when they had the flu - they were medicating with over-the-counter cold and flu medicine and drinking multiple cups of lemsip, one after the other, not realizing lemsip also contained painkillers. they died of an overdose."
StrikeOk9626
I never knew the flu was so dangerous until COVID.
It only takes a sneeze.
The BIG Bullet!
Driving Action Movie GIF by James Bond 007Giphy"People are not nearly careful enough driving vehicles. you are operating a 2,000lb bullet, please stop texting and pay attention."
BigMoney5594
No Bleach
"Mixing cleaning supplies. Cleaners are usually dangerous chemicals, mixing certain chemicals can create dangerous gases. One of the common cleaner mistakes people make is dish soap and bleach, a lot of dish soaps have ammonia in them, and you don’t want to be around the gas that ammonia and chlorine make. Also, don’t clean your kitty litter with bleach, use chlorine-free disinfectants instead. Cat pee naturally has ammonia in it and can cause a reaction too."
SegaNaLeqa
Too High
"High blood pressure."
Ultimatelee
"High BP also presents as just a headache for some. I had preeclampsia and after the baby was born I kept getting these headaches, to be honest, they weren't that painful but I felt foggy and just, off. Come to find out my BP was so high I needed 3 rounds of magnesium to bring it back to normal."
deckpumps_n_deldos
Small Evils
"Bites from the wrong flea/mosquito/tick have been decimating mankind since forever."
Midas_Artflower
"If your tick bite gets a bullseye shape around it, go to the doctor, possible Lyme disease."
"If your spider bite gets raised and white, go to the doctor, possible necrotic lesions from recluse."
"Don't live in fear of these things and squash everything with crawly legs. Do some research (tons of bug info online free from many universities, tons of insect/spider/etc subreddits), and be smart. Wear tall socks in long grass and check yourself and your pets."
BirdsLikeSka
Red Puke
season 9 berries GIFGiphy"Elderberries are poisonous until you boil them. My mom works at a school where a teacher lets some kids eat them because she didn’t know they were poisonous. Red puke everywhere. I also had a friend post a picture on Facebook of her son eating them."
CoffeeCactus92
Why are berries so dangerous?
I love them. Darn it!
Stop being stupid would be my first guest. There is a lot of stupid. And don't smack people. (Cough Cough)
Bodacious...
surprised keanu reeves GIFGiphy"Be excellent to each other."
pnotar
"…and party on, dudes!!!"
Theformat420
Communities
"I read somewhere that if you want to change the world, you have to change the community, to change the community change your relationships, and to change your relationships change yourself."
cagibaxii
"And this saying is why I believe in the necessity of shame, accountability and consequences. Without those, one can't even change themselves. In fact, the worst of them goes unpruned and unchecked. That makes them worse, which makes their relationships worse, which makes the community worse."
thatswhatshesaidxx
Elsa Says...
“'Let go or be dragged' and old zen proverb I heard at a meditation class. Really changed the way I let myself worry about things."
civagigi
"When you can't let go of an issue - whether that's being upset over an injustice, or obsessed over a possibility- if you don't 'let go' then it may take over your life and prevent you from being happy."
clayxa
Save the World
"Don't leave plastic laying around."
TheDarkSoulHunter
"Or just stop using so much of it in the first place."
SailorSpoon11
"There is no simple rule in existence that could change the world. Multiple that can make it vastly better though."
Ill_Ratio_5682
STRIKE!!
“Forget it, Dude. Let's go bowling.”
Bonhomme7h
"Great to be the owner of bowling places then."
Crazy-yzarC
Bowling. Bowling always helps. Bowling and karaoke. Try it...
Dirty $$$
Angry The Daily Show GIF by Comedy CentralGiphy"Keeping money out of politics."
-domi-
"If we taught critical thinking skills in school, money in politics wouldn't be nearly as effective."
AmericanScream
Good Behavior
"Treats others how you want to be treated."
AlbanyGuy1973
"Doesn't work: Some people WANT to be treated like crap (masochism). Others are incapable of treating everyone like the king or queen they think they are."
P4intsplatter
"This one is bad. Treat others how you think they want to be treated would be an improvement, although it relies on you being pretty good with empathy and stuff."
Quinlov
Upset with someone?
"Any clear communication. People cant read minds so one must use communication. Upset with someone? Talk to them about it, come up with a way to resolve the issue. Pulling away from people cause of a tough time in life, let them know you're going through stuff."
"Try to minimize the potential for a loss in translation so that all sides are understanding each other as much as possible. If theres a roadblock in communication, take a step back and think about how you're viewing it vs them and how you can better understand each others sides."
dalcer
Turn Correctly!
"Use your turn signal(s) properly."
futilelord
"I live in northern Wyoming and it's the same way here. There's about a 50% chance that a person will use their turn signal, almost everybody is driving a massive vehicle, tailgating is the norm now, nobody knows what a safe following distance is anymore, stop lights and stop signs are viewed as suggestions, and the cops don't do anything about it. Driving used to be fun but now it feels more like you're playing with your life every time you go out."
Minmach-123
Be a Light
Be Kind Animation GIF by Red & HowlingGiphy"Be generous and humble. Being generous and kind encourages us to perceive others in a more positive light and fosters a sense of community. Humility teaches you to improve and make a positive impact on the world."
SuvenPan
Not Renewable
"Don't use more resources than what the earth is capable of renewing."
DeathSpiral321
"Yea it's like the debate on fur coats vs those made from polyester, fur coats when properly sourced are much more sustainable."
"With furs, we run the risk of over killing animals and harming ecosystems. That being said, they are biodegradable and if properly maintained, can last much longer. Polyester made clothing however, emits a lot of pollution during its production and takes much longer/doesn't biodegrade nearly as well."
Boomerang
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Black-Shoe
"Better hope you never run into a masochist."
EmperorG
Hush Up
"If you are not educated on the subject, sit down and stfu. Let the experts with years of education and experience talk."
Ch3m1cal420
"The problem here is that there are topics where the real experts aren't scientists but the people who experience it. These often are overlooked."
otaku_ftm_aspie_blue
Hey Neighbor
"TOLERANCE! and the good neighbor policy you stay on your side of the fence and don't bother me and I'll do the same. Got it."
Last-Voice-Of-Reason
"Deep thinking"
"Be kind to each other. Period."
NoBSforGma
"Deep thinking."
"These are not questions that can be answered easily or quickly. (Except that one for the addict because that usually leads to.... death.)"
"If everyone was kind to each other, there would be no murders, no starvation, no wars. Can you improve on that? Children would not be abused, women would not be raped. Just think about it."
go away gtfo GIF"The problem with that is the decisions you make effect others in society in some cases. Should I be able to drive whatever speed I want and not stop at stop lights even though I might kill some innocent bystander along the way?"
Farmer_j0e00
reducing the discrepancy...
"You can only earn within 1 std deviation of the average income, level out income. This just came into my head, so not sure if it would work... maybe 2 std deviations. But reducing the discrepancy between the rich and poor would do a lot."
istcmg
"Hate it. As it stands in the realm of human attraction if you're a 5'3" ugly guy you're about 1,000 std devs below average. However you can work your arse off and be competent and successful and make some of that up by also being many std devs above average financial success."
"Even if you do that, you're not as well off as someone born tall and good looking: it's still the consolation prize because unlike them you had to work for it, and you'll know anyone in a relationship with you is there grudgingly and would really like someone else more. Who the hell are you to take that small grain of hope of some kind of decent life away?"
zipporah-the-third
Stay Calm
Game On Fighting GIF by Shalita GrantGiphy"Simple, the non-aggression principle. You don't do, initiate or threat any harm unto others, unless acting in true self defense."
ufrag
Energy Save
"The lights should be off but the others are actually on as a result of energy protection. You wouldn’t want the surge of industrial power on and off like that. It’s actually more efficient to leave them on as most models now require less energy to keep consistent temperatures than to surge and cover a wider range of returning to the desired temperature. The lights thing does need to go. Light pollution is problematic."
-Sairax-
What have we learned? Be better, it's really that simple.
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Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
But if we stop and take a breath, we may find that some things in life are a lot simpler than we thought.
"What seems complicated but is actually dead simple?"
The Power Of A Theorem
"The number of things in physics that are basically The Pythagorean theorem applied is always gratifying."
Authoritative Search Engine
"Using google to answer simple questions."
"For example, I am not an IT professional but I am good at fixing computers because I can 'speak google'. 90% of the time when a friend or family member asks me for tech support, I just google the question."
– Sirhc978
It's Not Always About Excelling
"When you truly get over the fear of failure of perfectionism, you might be surprised how much you are capable of."
When it comes to basic interactions with people, these Redditors seemed to have hit the nail on the head.
Staying In Your Lane
"Minding your own business."
"Kind of goes hand in hand with shutting the f'k up. Simpler than most people would make it appear."
Amateur Chef
"My roommate once said reheating his food in the oven because our microwave was broken took too much work. I wrapped his sh*t in tinfoil and took it out in 10 minutes and the guy thought I was gordon ramsey. Heat plus food equals hot food idiot."
English grammar breaks a lot of rules, but there are some basic rules people should always be cognizant of.
Common Mistake
"Could have, should have. It drives me insane when I see somebody saying could of or should of."
I don't get people who litter. Is it really that hard to walk your empty water bottle to a recycle bin or toss your candy wrapper in the trash?
Apparently so.
News flash: it's not that difficult to get rid of trash.
Don't overthink it. Just leave your empty soda cans and Starbucks coffee cups off the street, because most of us appreciate cleanliness.
What's impressive to me is how clean the city of Tokyo is in comparison to many metropolitan areas in the U.S.
The baffling part is, there generally are no trash cans in the streets of Tokyo, and yet, the city is in pristine condition because the citizens respect common public areas.
People there carry their trash with them until they find a convenience store with garbage receptacles or get home so they can get rid of trash there.