It’s no secret that here at Bored Panda we’re fond of all sorts of content, be it something mind-blowing or mildly interesting. And today, it’s the latter we’re focusing on, as we’re taking some time to appreciate the best of the best of the ‘Mildly Interesting’ subreddit.
Below you will find a collection of some of the most mildly interesting posts from the sub we’ve ever shed light on, which might take you down memory lane if you have followed us for quite some time already. If you’re just starting now, welcome and enjoy some of the most amusing, random, unexpected, and just mildly interesting content.
Seeking to learn more about what makes us curious about such content, Bored Panda got in touch with two experts in curiosity, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Williams College in Massachusetts, Dr. Susan Engel, and behavioral expert, author, speaker and consultant, Dr. Diane Hamilton, who agreed to answer a few of our questions on the topic. You will find their thoughts in the text below.
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This Pet Shop Doesn’t Sell Bunnies At Easter
My Cat Has One Eye And This Is How She Peeks Around Corners
The Way Our Wallpaper Installer Covered The Vent
One might wonder, what can be so captivating about something that is only mildly interesting to make a netizen browse such content for hours? While the answer to that likely differs with each person, chances are that all of them are led by curiosity; to some extent, at least.
“Curiosity motivates a wide range of behaviors. It makes us open a bag when we don’t know what’s inside, ask friends a million questions, look things up, scan a new situation, and test our predictions—will this hold me up if I step on it, for instance?” Dr. Susan Engel told Bored Panda, adding that every person is different in regards to the level of curiosity and what it is directed at.
Cafe I Went To In Indianapolis Is A No-Tipping Establishment
Someone Placed A Small Stick On Each Of The Dog Graves In This Cemetery
“A combination of factors determine a person’s level and kind of curiosity,” Dr. Engel continued, pointing out that curiosity tends to be associated, to some degree, with levels of intelligence. “It’s also deeply influenced by the way adults spoke with you when you were very young and associated with temperament, too; with how comfortable you are with novelty, for instance.”
There Is A House Near Me That Looks Like It’s Out Of A Fairytale
This Cute Wizard Made Out Of Soap Is My Son’s First Try At Whittling
What a great idea to start with soap! I always wanted to do wood carving but hesitated because wood (even soft wood) is a bit daunting. But soap I would try.
This Bookshelf In Tallinn Airport
“Curiosity is the magic potion that leads to learning, which makes it all the more important that parents and teachers nurture it in childhood,” Engel told Bored Panda.
Data suggests that quite a few people see said potion as a key element of a successful future. A survey carried out in 2018 found that as much as 94% of parents believe that curious children are more likely to become successful adults.
Our Teacher Had Us Do Word Searches In Asl To Practice Finger Spelling
A German Supermarket Pulled All The Russian Products In Its Russian Aisle And Replaced Them With Sunflower Seeds
This Is What Happens When Frogs Eat Fireflies
According to another expert, Dr. Diane Hamilton, curiosity plays a role in every aspect of our day-to-day lives. “Our curiosity determines our interest in doing things, from whether we want to learn something new, hike a new trail, or seek a job that fulfills us,” she told Bored Panda.
“Without curiosity, we would be in limbo, remaining in status-quo behaviors and leading rather dull lives. That is a significant problem in the workplace and why I work with so many organizations to build a culture of curiosity. When we spark curiosity, we create innovation, engagement, and productivity.”
The Petals Of This Camellia Flower
A House In My Neighborhood Has These Plaques Outside Commemorating Former Residents Who Became Victims Of The Holocaust
„Stolpersteine“ - „Stumbling Stones“ they can be found all over europe - every stone contains the dates of the ( jewish) human who was murdered by the nazis during the NS period. Siegfried Funkenstein: shot while trying to escape - Paula Funkenstein: murdered in Ausschwitz - Ilse Funkenstein: unknown - Rolf Funkenstein: murdered in Ausschwitz.
What Happens When You Grow A Pumkin Inside A Plastic Mold
According to Dr. Hamilton, we are all born with high curiosity levels, but they decline at around the age of five. “My research for the Curiosity Code Index (CCI) found that four things inhibit curiosity and reduce our levels: fear, assumptions, technology, and environment (FATE).
“Firstly, we often fear asking questions for fear of looking stupid. Secondly, the voice in our head might tell us that it assumes we won't like something because it would be too difficult. Thirdly, we might over- or under-utilize technology, and lastly, everyone in our environment—family, friends, teachers, and anyone with whom we have had contact—might influence our curiosity through their lack of support.”
My Dog’s Shampoo Is Tested On Humans First
1930’s Parquet Flooring Restored Today!
My Chickens Greeting Me When I Come Home From Work
There was a farm I used to deliver to when I was a letter carrier. The first and only time I left the truck door open to deliver a parcel by their door I came back to my truck full of chickens. :)
The same way fears, technology, and people do, culture, too, can influence our curiosity. Dr. Hamilton, who discussed the topic in two of her books—Cracking the Curiosity Code and The Power of Perception—told Bored Panda:
“Culture falls into the environmental category, which is one of the four factors of FATE. Anyone in our circle of influence, like friends, family, and others, shows us how our culture accepts or rejects our actions.
“Culture is a significant influencer and teaches us if something is a good or wrong way to behave. Consider a culture where women are not supposed to work. Then, a woman's curiosity about job potential would be quite different.”
These Kittens With Perfect Moustache Patterns
I Like To Make Little Drawings Of People That I See
These are adorable and skillfully made! I immediately felt like I wanted to color these.
This Bar That Decorated Its Bar Top With The Confiscated Fake Ids Of College Students
Closely linked with another inhibitor of curiosity, technology, the internet seems to be a double-edged sword when it comes to a person’s eagerness to familiarize themselves with the unknown.
“I think for some people, online access to information is a boon to curiosity,” Dr. Engel shared. “And research has shown that feeding curiosity is the best way to increase it. So, being able to answer one’s questions online can fuel the fire of curiosity.
“On the other hand, answering a specific question—when did the continents break apart, how is Alzheimer's diagnosed, what is neoliberalism, for instance—is very different from surfing the internet for distraction and passive entertainment. To the extent that those activities preoccupy people, the internet depresses curiosity.”
Locals In Puerto Rico Painted This Mural. They Made Sure To Include The Dog That Chills There Often
Curious if they were able to get pup to move or if they just painted around him? So cool that the dog knows exactly where to lay down.
This Is What Happens When You Put Horizontal Mirrors On A Shack In The Desert
Beach Has Baskets For People To Help Clean Up
“Internet content can spark curiosity by putting images out there that intrigue us,” Dr. Hamilton pointed out. “Sometimes, a picture brings back a memory from childhood. Like that voice in our heads that told us we might not like something or things might be too hard, sometimes that voice can be positive, telling us that an image was something we enjoyed. There is little risk of clicking on a picture to see what intrigued us. When we are safely behind a screen, it can make us more adventurous to explore random pictures.”
If you want to see how browsing random images affects your curiosity, check out this guy photoshopping himself into random pictures next; but if you’d rather stick to something you already know to be at least ‘Mildly Interesting’, feel free to scroll through our previous editions on the subreddit here or here.
Flowers On A Wall That Look Like A Gradient
My One Dog Looks Like My Other Dog's Shadow
What Happens When You Swing A String Of Glow Sticks With Burning Steel Wool At The End And Take A Long Exposure Photo
This Is What Happens When A Cat Touches A Plasma Ball
What Happens When Water Gets Really, Really Cold
This Crack In The Pavement Filled With A Stained Glass Cat Portrait
My Rhododendron Looks Like It's Trying To Run Off
Crosswalk Projected On A Dirty Winter Road
My Beer 4-Pack Came With Paperboard Rings, Instead Of Plastic
Found A Snoopy House On My Walk
This Is What Happens When A Lightning Hits Beach Sand
This Is What Happens When You Polish A Coconut
Saw This Logo For A Pet Grooming Service On My Drive Home
The Way My Windscreen Froze
A Frame In The Middle Of A Lake
The Roof Of This Small Chapel Collapsed, And Instead Of Rebuilding It Normally They Made It Out Of Glass
I Have Partial Heterochromia In Both Eyes
This Is What Happens When You Heat An Ordinary Marble Over A Flame Then Immediately Drop It Into Cold Water
An Old TV Repurposed Into A Cat Bed For My Cat’s Birthday
The Wear And Scuff-Marks On This Boat Look Like An Island In The Sea
I Traced Around My Vitiligo Spots
What Happens When 50 Mph Winds, Freezing Temperatures And Lake Erie Hits Your House
This Elevator Has Giant Buttons You Can Push With Your Feet
I see these in hospitals in the elevators used for transporting patients in beds.
What Happens When The Mist Around A Waterfall Freezes
Buried Christmas Lights
Today In Copenhagen There Was Car Free Sunday
Okay I thought that said CAT free Sunday & I just about lost my 💩 and blew a fufu valve...
My Bachelor's Degree Is Signed By Arnold Schwarzenegger
One Of My Friends Deleted Social Media And Is Attempting To Stay In Contact Via Mail…
We all should start doing this to one another.. along with proper penmanship.
My Teacher Made Pokémon Animal Type Of Cards For Science
A Lizard Fell From The Ceiling And Left This Dusty Imprint On My Wireless Charger
These Chairs Made From Old Fire Hoses, In Front Of A Fire Station
Came Across A Typewriter For Writing Music
The Exterior Of The Old Library Inside The New Library
My university is like this, they added onto the original building and enclosed the original entrance and stairway into the school. I should take a picture next week when I'm back on campus.
I Snapped A Photo Of My Dog Through A Window Screen That Looks Like An Old Painting
This Shopping Cart Has A Magnifying Glass Attached To It
This Is What Happens When You Drive Over Chalk Paint On A Hot Day
This Welcoming Sculpture At A Truck Stop Tire Store In Co
Here's What Happens When You Leave Half A Cabbage In The Fridge Too Long
We Use Hulk Hands To Move Cacti At My Work
My New Fridge Came With A Noise Description
Live Power Line Fell, It Was So Hot That It Melted Through The Sidewalk And Turned The Sand Underneath To Glass
I'm glad we Bury most of the lines in our cities instead of putting them on poles seeing this.
There Is A Sharing Point For Walking Sticks At The Beginning Of My Favourite Hiking Path
A Cheese Vending Machine In A Mountain Village In Switzerland
My Great Grandmothers Sketches Of Her Teachers. 1924
Actually all are characters from the Pickwick Papers by Dickens, so nice sketches, but not her teachers.
What Happens When You Put M&ms In A Dish Of Water. Diffusion Force Barriers
My Dog Had A Paw Print On His Paw
I Stacked 65 Jenga Blocks On One Block
The Blossoms On My LEGO Bonsai Are Small Frogs
These Lego botanical sets are amazing tho. Here's the orchid feat. my BD-1. BD-65fbe96f7751f.jpg
My Newly Acquired Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone Fore-Edge Painted Book! Featuring A Secret Platform 9 3/4 Scene On The Edges Of The Pages
The Tag From My New Frying Pan Can Be Planted To Grow Thyme
The Way My Mom Mows Crop Circles Into The Lawn
While Hiking An Isolated Jungle Trail In The Amazon, We Came Across This Post Marking The Equator
Wouldn't it be cool if there were a dotted line of these circling the earth?
My Daughter’s Bicycle Clarifying The Difference Between Austria And Australia
Reminds me of a story of a friend's mom who was visited by an English speaking friend of hers: They were travelling on the train and she brought out some candy, called "Mozartkugeln". She was excited to offer some to her friends and asked: Do you want some of Mozart's balls? -- Get's me every time I think about it😂
My Thai Food Came With A Chork
My Oven Shows The Time That You Started Cooking Incase You Didn’t Set A Timer
Many Vegetables In The U.k. Have The Name Of The Farmer Who Grew Them On The Packaging
My Girlfriend Bought Some Particular Measuring Spoons
What Happens When Wood Is Burnt With High Voltage
Nice, but DON'T. Lichtenburg burning is the most dangerous wood DIY project you can tackle. The voltage used goes from 2000 to 10000 Volts, up to 2 Amp. And you will be pumping this power into soft, organic, flammable material, while standing in the general vicinity, by using rigged equipment that require advanced knowledge of electrical principles... The American Association of Woodturners banned this tech from all their competitions and sponsored events since 2017 due to the extremely high rate of fatalities.
Snake Looking Through My Glass Door
Mcdonald’s In The Netherlands Now Serve Drinks With A Cardboard Lid Instead Of A Plastic Lid
My Local Gym Gave The Handicap Drawing A Noticeable Bicep
I Found A Pidgeon With One Feather Sticking Out Of It's Head
Saw The End Of A Rainbow Today
Social Distancing Escalator At Local Mall
I Made A Very Round Snowman
The Person Who Lived In My Apartment Before Me Planted Pineapples
Taking Quotes For A New Neon Sign For The Bar I Work At And One Of The Companies Brought Their Neon Pallet
These Statues In Front Of A Finnish Train Station Are Vaccinated
If You Ever Meet Steve Martin By Chance, He Gives You A Card As Proof You Met Him
Does he have a separate stack for people who thought he was a jerk? As opposed to THE Jerk of course
This Convenience Store’s Floor Is Made Of Bottle Caps
This Dental Office Trims Their Shrubs To Look Like Molars
There Is A Free “Period Pack” At My School For Girls Who Are Unprepared For Their Periods
My University Has A Yolo Button That Randomly Dispenses A Drink
A Vibrant And Clear Spectrum Of Colors Refracting Through My Apparently Prismatic Window Onto My Arm
This Message Stamped On The Squeaker Inside The Stuffed Animal My Dog Just Destroyed
Table I Made Out Of Old Skateboards In My Clients House
My Bathroom Window Looks Like A Painting
Bathroom At My Dentist Has A Picture Of The Bathroom At My Dentist Hanging On The Wall
Local Kmart Has A Doll With Down’s Syndrome
My Local Library Has “Binge Boxes” In The Film Section
Saw one from a library themed "Don't Travel with Tom Hanks," and the movies were Castaway, Apollo 13, Captain Phillips, and Sully.
Used My Fingers To Make A 'Drawing' On Velvet
When you want to be arty, but can’t be bothered to get up.
The Dew Forming On This Trampoline Is Squared Out By The Fabric
It seems "they" didn't pay attention and left a clue about reality being in fact a simulation …
A Reminder For Parents To Not Be [jerks]
Love the small print - Please report to a Board Member if you think the person next to you has trouble understanding this message.
My Blinds Reflection Looks Like Lunar Phases On My Wall
My Public Library Tells You How Much Money You’ve Saved By Checking Things Out Instead Of Buying Them
A School (?) Of Jellyfish Congregated Under This Boat
The Truck In Front Of Us Lined Up Perfectly With The Mountains!
The Embers Of My Bonfire Look Like The Eye Of Sauron
The compulsory clicking of the tongs should dispel all evils from the pit
Cardboard Rings For This 6 Pack Instead Of The Plastic Ones
My University Has A Rack For People To Lock Their Skateboards!
This Walgreens Is In An Old Bank
Coffee Stain That Looks Like Earth
I’m The Only Apartment With The Holiday Spirit
My Grandma's Collection Of 544 Different Cookie Cutters That She Has Been Expanding For 50+ Years
This Finnish Bread-Brand Put A Mask On Their Mascot
A very angry discussion arose from this, as well as how in the name of equality the package sometimes included a female character. In English, this is called a traveling man bread and people got angry when it was a traveling woman. How can people be offended by something like this.Why are people like this. Lose your temper with one mascot and declare the whole brand to be a joke?🤦🏼♀️
Helen Keller, Maya Angelou And Eleanor Roosevelt Barbies. There’s Braille On The Helen Keller Box
I Ordered Some Sample Colors For New Blinds, And They Sent Me Actual Tiny Little Blinds
I Genuinely Thought My Car Was Hovering Over The Parking
I Bought A Tie Today And It Came With A Matching Face Mask
Local Plant Nursery Has A Notice Translation For Teens
Massive W here, the guy who made this has rizz and is high key poggers. What a clutch he pulled of, not an easy clap (I think I may spend too much time online)
The Melting Snow On This Chair Looks Like A Tree
My Friend's Shoes Look Like They Are Screaming
“am i the AITA for cheating on my wife after she put too much mustard on my sandwich?”
Load More Replies...These would have been great, if not for the jerk0ffs who have to continually use the entries for their political soap boxes. I thought the problem would fix itself when high school started back up, but apparently not.
I see nothing overtly political here.. It all seems humanitarian to me. If you don't like feel good stuff, don't waste your time on it, bub.
Load More Replies...“am i the AITA for cheating on my wife after she put too much mustard on my sandwich?”
Load More Replies...These would have been great, if not for the jerk0ffs who have to continually use the entries for their political soap boxes. I thought the problem would fix itself when high school started back up, but apparently not.
I see nothing overtly political here.. It all seems humanitarian to me. If you don't like feel good stuff, don't waste your time on it, bub.
Load More Replies...