Dan Wilbur
I love to learn. In fact, I don’t even really care what the subject is.
Unfortunately, that leads to reading a lot of history I’d rather not know. Honestly, it was nicer to be ignorant of who was and wasn’t a Nazi sympathizer.
Then again, doing a 23andMe test and finding out you were related to Benjamin Franklin is a fun fact. A useless fact, but a fact!
Someone on Reddit wanted to know what others knew that they’re not necessarily proud to know. The results, as you guessed, are sad but interesting.
Here are some random facts that aren’t very fun to know but are real nonetheless:
1. 40% of murders in the United States go unsolved.
“Actually, 40% of murders are not solved, they are “cleared”. Cleared does not equal solved.
WAY more than 40% of murders go unsolved.
For example. If you make one arrest in a murder case they report it cleared. Even if that ends up being the wrong person. Doesn’t matter. Clearing a murder is not getting a conviction.
There are other reasons a murder may be cleared. Like if the prime suspect died for example..
But yeah in reality A LOT more go unsolved.” –VulfSki
2. The Sun kills way more people in Australia than any of the huge animals.
“People joke about Australia having dangerous animals of all kinds. However, no. 1 enemy to Australians is the sun.
Australia has the highest skin cancer rate in the world. An average Australian is four times likely to get skin cancer than any other type of cancer, and two thirds of Australians will probably get it by the age of seventy.” –BizarroCullen
3. You’re body isn’t necessarily “smart.”
“At any time, your body could make a mistake while fighting an infection/virus and register a vital type of cell as unwanted for the rest of your life.” –strawberryklutz
4. Orcas skin penguins. Cancel Willy.
“They also skin seals and sea lions! The way they do it is by tail flicking them to the fucking moon (not really that far, but they do launch them like 150 feet up in the air sometimes, iirc). When they do this, the landing force will tear the skin off the animal.
And why do they do this? Apparently, for fun.” –Clemen11
5. You’re more likely to survive being shot in the head than rabies.
“You’re more likely to survive almost anything than rabies.
Internal decapitation? Yup. Shark Bite? Yup. Being hit by a speeding car, scalped, or breaking your neck? Yes.
Rabies is a death sentence, always. Except for those 14 people in all of recorded medical history.” –justalittlelupy
6. Wasps make spiders seem friendly.
“There’s a wasp in Australia that hunts spiders.
It doesn’t eat them, though. It paralyses them, makes a little mud cocoon for each one, and before sealing it off, lays a single egg on the now trapped spider.
The egg hatches, the larva eats the still alive (and still paralysed) spider, and then breaks out of the cocoon as a wasp.” –pinkpanzer101
7. The start of chemical warfare.
“During the bubonic plague the Mongolians launched infected dead bodies over the walls of different civilizations.” –ShareAcademic9945
8. We let a war criminal get a pass.
“Shiro Ishii, director of Unit 731 who tortured, experimented on and murdered 600,000 innocent civilians was paid the equivalent of $3 million dollars (adjusted for inflation) by the US Government for his research papers and granted him complete immunity.” –Gordmonger
9. Pluto has had a wild journey and it hasn’t even been a year.
“Pluto didn’t even make a full orbit of the sun from its discovery to its demotion.” –MapleHertzoggie
10. At what point does it become another person?
“Some tumors grow teeth and hair.” –padraigharrington2
11. Drowning people don’t look like they’re drowning.
“Movies etc. don’t portray drowning people very accurately. This has led to a common misconception of what a drowning person actually looks like. Since a lot of people don’t really know what to look for, a large number of tragic incidences of children drowning while swimming occurred with the child’s parents right there… close by… near enough to save them… if only they had realized before it was too late.” –aredman87
12. Every Cruise ship has a morgue.
“My brother in law works on a Cruise ship that retired people live on full time (after they sell their houses and move in). About 700 passengers.
It just keeps sailing around the world.
They have 4 body compartments in their morgue, and at least one person dies every voyage.” –miurabucho
13. Where are the weapons of mass destruction?
“There are 8 American warheads unaccounted for, and a number of former Soviet nuclear devices missing ranging from warheads to suitcase bombs.” –TGOTR
14. Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr were born in the same year.
“Donald J. Trump, George Bush Jr, and Bill Clinton were born in the summer of the same year as well. That is likely because it was 1946 and people were having a lot of after WW2 sex.” –TheBassMeister
15. The origin of the chainsaw is scary.
“The Chainsaw was originally invented to aid in childbirth for cutting through the pelvic bone. No, I’m not kidding.” –Onlyhereforthelaughs
16. Anteaters aren’t being cute.
“The funny T Pose that an anteater does? Yeah that’s Mr. Anteater telling you hes seconds away from literally disemboweling you with one swipe. Next time you see an anteater doing the funny pose just remember they are trying to give you a free C-section with one singular claw slash.” –Franks_Spice_Sauce
17. Didn’t want to know this but I needed to know this.
“Judith Barsi, the young actress who voiced Ducky in The Land Before Time, was murdered (along with her mother) by her abusive father. She was only ten years old at her death. Her gravestone is adorned with Ducky’s catchphrase, “Yep! Yep! Yep!”” –FlashpointJ24
18. Be kind to all of them.
“Animals can suffer with post traumatic stress disorder.” –LaptopGeek92
19. Elephants never forget those they love.
“Elephants can die from broken hearts when their mates/companions die.” –ItStillIsntLupus
20. Welp, that’s too bad for him.
“Ted Cruz is younger than Gwen Stefani.” –PMME_ur_lovely_boobs
21. Don’t worry about childbirth…
“The number one cause of death for pregnant women worldwide is Murder. Horrific to think about.” –Generic_Username7921
22. Henrietta Lacks did not get her due.
“A woman’s cancer cells were preserved and found to be practically immortal. This led to a ton of discoveries and breakthroughs in the medical field. Her family still cannot afford their own medical bills and this was all done without their knowledge or consent.” –amairoc
23. Take that, distant animal cousin!
“A gorillas schlong is on average 2 inches or less. Guess what, human males on average pack 4-5 inches, which is more firepower than a gorilla; congrats.” –TheCerealKilled
24. Give it a shot!
“If you punch someone in the heart right in the middle of a heartbeat, you can stop the heart.” –Wackygodly10
25. We almost nuked ourselves.
“A bomber accidentally dropped 2 nukes on North Carolina. One of them was found with only 1 safety left intact, keeping it from detonating. The other one buried itself 200 feet deep underground when it’s parachute failed to deploy, causing it to break apart. Most of the parts of this thermonuclear bomb were recovered. Most is the key word here. There are still parts of a thermonuclear bomb buried somewhere near Goldsboro, NC.” –LaPetitFleuret
26. Yikes!
“A dolphin is more likely to rape than help or ignore you if you’re drowning.” –Tescomealdeal04
27. Faulty brain.
“Most of your memories are wrong and only semi true. Every year they become more muddled as well.” –vcrbetamax
28. You are not you.
“Only about 1 in 10 cells in your body are genetically human.
It’s not your body.
There are so many microorganisms living in and on your body that they vastly outnumber you. You are not mostly human. Largely bacteria. Gross right?
Hell no, it’s awesome. I am a walking ecosystem. Trillions of lives depend on me to survive. Trillions. I am their home, their planet; I could harm or help them on a whim. In turn they can kill me right back. Some may leave for other planets but most will live their entire existence with me.” –Reverse_Waterfall
29. Thanks, I hate it.
“After being exposed to lead, your body absorbs it and stores it in your bones in place of calcium, which is undetectable by blood tests, making it harder to determine your lead-levels. It’s not until you get older and your bones start to de-mineralise that the lead goes back into your bloodstream and you suffer from sudden lead poisoning.” –antonionb
30. Soggy skeleton.
“Your bones are wet.” –FoxTailedGamer
31. Not all sociopaths…
“People with antisocial personality disorder (aka sociopaths) do not always become violent killers. In fact, there’s a large percentage of them that end up becoming surgeons, CEOs, police officers, media personalities, and journalists.” –Pear_Jam2
32. Crows will inherit the Earth.
“Crows are currently experiencing their stone age, but we will never see cool modern crows because we will be long gone before they reach the next stage.” –glassssshark
33. Scientists are out there killing clams for science.
“In 2006, a team of scientific researchers in Iceland were gathering clams in order to study the effects of climate change. They froze the clams, which ended up killing them. They ended up killing the oldest known clam still left alive, nicknamed, “Ming”, which was 507 years old.” –hostilecarrot
34. We did it!
“We are in the middle of earth’s 6th “mass extinction event” and there is almost full consensus that humans are the cause.” –The_Passive_Fist
h/t Reddit: r/AskReddit
