Some people like to think that they're wiser than others. But even Socrates, one of history's greatest philosophers, doubted his omniscience and famously said, "All I know is that I know nothing."
So let's remind ourselves that learning is a never-ending endeavor in this world, shall we? There's a Reddit post that's perfect for this task. Created by user u/TikiTC, it asked everyone on the platform "What's a little-known but obvious fact that will immediately make all of us feel stupid?"
Folks came through with plenty of insightful replies from a variety of topics, ranging from basic physics to human anatomy. Here are some of the most interesting ones.
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Cats, dogs, and other similar animals can't see directly below their faces.
Because their snout gets in the way.
(That's why you have to point out the treat a million times, they're not stupid, the damn thing is just in their blind spot)
If you touch a baby bird, the mother will not reject it. I don’t even know who came up with it.
Percentages are reversible. 8% of 25 is the same as 25% of 8 and one of them is much easier to do in your head.
Okay I don't usually take things personally here because I just laugh it off, but this whole downvoting thing is getting annoying as hell. Bored Panda used to be a place where people had fun and would only downvote trolls or offensive stuff, now we're getting downvotes for commenting how we are dumb enough to not understand math. I won't erase my comment because I genuinely don't think I said something that deserved to be hidden, I just wish some people here remembered this is not like/dislike. Anyway, I'm just venting...
911 operators have no f*****g clue where you are instantly unless you're on a landline.
You HAVE to say where you are. It's not our fault movies made you think we have a spy level video of you in your car.
Know your location.
Yes, amen 1000% . I do not know where you are when I'm dispatching unless you call from an old school landline. Sometimes if you call a lot I can guess where you may be by looking through old calls but that takes time. If you are in an emergency you do not want me taking my time.
Most cats are like super lactose intolerant, and drinking milk is really really bad for them.
you don't give a person free REIGN, you give them free REIN.
a queen REIGNS over her queendom, but you REIN in a horse, which is where this comes from.
i see this mistake constantly, even in professional journalism, and it drives me nuts.
So many phrases get misused, which annoy me. Common ones are "off your own back" instead of *bat*, "could care less" instead of *couldn't*, and "have another thing coming" instead of *think*
Words that are spelled the same but pronounced with emphasis on different syllables is actually indicative of the part of speech it is.
Stress on the first syllable is a noun. Stress on the last syllable is a verb.
Examples: CON-tract and con-TRACT. The former is a noun ( sign this contract) whereas the latter is a verb (the muscles contract).
Same with record, address, impact, object, and a few others.
A couple of examples given, but there are many others that don't behave like this. Even with those they're not consistent. Address is only stressed on the first symbol in American English, most of the rest of the world doesn't pronounce it differently whether used as a verb or a noun, same in reverse with impact.
It was never mentioned that Humpty-Dumpty was an egg.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, but he had a lousy summer.
Pufferfish are filled with water, not air. It wouldn’t even make sense, yet a lot of people are like *what??*
Covered bridges are designed with roofs to protect and preserve the wooden structure from the elements. Without the cover they'd last about 20 years, with the cover they can last up to 100. They're not built that way just to look charming.
Antisocial means that you are hostile or harmful to organized society. As in being or marked by behavior deviating sharply from the social norm.
Asocial is rejecting or lacking the capacity for social interaction.
There's a 'd' in fridge but not in refrigerator. It really bothers me...
When a nurse gives you an IV - they aren't leaving the metal needle inside your arm - they actually remove that and only a soft plastic tube remains - so you don't need to keep your arm that straight, relax.
But I swear to god, if it's in your acf (front part of your elbow) keep it straight because a kinked hose will make the machine beep at us every time! lol but no. No metal.
My son spent a lot of time in hospitals this past year (and he's nonverbal) so I always beg them to put the IVs somewhere besides the crook of his elbow. He moves around a lot and the nurses will spend all their time dealing with beeping IVs.
Load More Replies...Here's the thing....if this is true, that ABSOLUTELY should be something they tell us. Being under a doctor's care is stressful enough without playing the game of "I've got a secret" or 20 questions. It's difficult when you don' tknow what questions to ask
I am absolutely terrifed of needles and the first time I had to have an IV put in, the nurse very kindly sacrificed a needle to show me how once it comes out, only that very small flexible plastic tube stays in.
Load More Replies...Then why does it hurt so much to move your arm/elbow at all with one in huh
because even a soft object can irritate your nerves
Load More Replies...I've been working in medicine for nearly two decades, so I ABSOLUTELY know this.... BUT I still get weird about moving my arm when I have an IV. My brain can't seem to connect the dots and the disconnect drives me crazy.
2 decades here, and I can feel the tube depending on placement. One time, I told the nurse they had missed the vein. Got told I couldn’t possibly tell… (and ignored). Tissues out. Gave nurse a smug grin.
Load More Replies...Any time a nurse places an IV in the antecubital space (front of elbow), there is a good chance it will be kinked off and cease to flow. There is a good reason to keep your arm straight. (from a nurse who has kinked off a couple of IV catheters)
In my case just the slightest relaxation will cause my veins to blow if there is an i.v in
That is what happens these days with modern Medical Supplies, but that is not how it started.
And I do not effing care. It’s a foreign thing piercing my skin and blood vessel. What it’s made of makes zero difference, and I don’t get why it does to some people.
Thank you! I never knew that and have always been terrified of IV's! This relieves a lot of fear.
I had one both times i gave birth. If i bent my wrist the pressure was too high on the tube for it to pump through and the pump would beep angrily at me.
I only ever put an IV in the crook of an elbow as a last resort, or if it was an emergency and needed one fast. Having had IV’s in my hand, even the small ones can be very uncomfortable. Often those ones will set the IV alarm off when you move your hand. Also, because of frequent movements of that hand, they don’t last as long. My best placements were in the forearm, upper or inner area. It’s very stable and can, if needed handle a large IV.
I spend a lot of time in hospital and have a lot of IV's/ midline's/ central lines and watching people having them and keeping their arm super still, I tell them there is no metal and it's safe to move them (obviously not too much for them failing/ falling out) and some people are relieved and some people don't belief me or the medical staff!
I always have problems when it's on top of my wrist/hand. Besides the fact that it's on top of major joints, I have an vein that is very mobile - I can roll it, on purpose even to freak people out, by just flexing a finger. So needles in my hand/wrist area are a big "NO". I've had many surgeries, so I'm getting better at knowing what works & where. I also wake up during twilight anesthetic & a lot of times local doesn't work for me either. Ugh.
It doesn’t help during my MRIs. (This interesting fact, not the IV.)
I know- u can see the metal needle go out BUT THAT TUBE needs to be kept straight or 1) it's more painful/ uncomfortable 2) the saline/ liquid/ medication/ whatever just seems to go in better 3) the whole process is just awkward and not comfortable and you do WHATEVER gets you through it the easiest 4) And that machine beeps far less when the tube is straight.... ;-)
As someone in the medical field, I thought this was common sense. Then My now ex was hospitalized. I had to go to work after he got admitted. At some point between his admission and my return, he was given an IV. He was acting extremely careful with it, so I asked him if it was painful. He said no, but that he was terrified of the needle poking out the other end. I had to explain to him that the metal needle had been removed and that it was just a tiny plastic tube left. 6 hours he had been on high alert. I felt bad for him and a bit miffed that his nurse didn't explain it to him.
You don't actually bite down. You bite up because of your lower jaw.
The little piggy didn't go to the market for shopping
to 'fast' means to abstain from eating. you do this every night when you go to bed.
The first meal of the day is called 'breakfast' because you're breaking your fast.
Fake, breakfast is called breakfast because back in the 1600's they had a breakdancing battle before eating and they had to do it fast or they would starve
World Wide Web contains fewer syllables than its intended short form - WWW, thus making the shorter version longer to say.
Yeah but the short form is intended for writing not for speaking. And in German and probably other languages it's just veh-veh-veh ;)
Cocunut milk is not the liquid inside the coconut, that's coconut water, coconut milk comes from the white flesh inside. The white flesh is pulped or diced and left to soak in warm water, this pulp is then squeezed through a cloth giving you the milk.
The words Laser and Scuba are actually acronyms and they stand for:
Laser- Light Amplification (by) Stimulated Emission (of) Radiation.
Scuba- Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
ATM stands for automated teller machine. So saying ATM Machine is like saying "automated teller machine machine"
Same with your PIN number. PIN stands for personal identification number
a chipotle pepper isnt its own type of pepper. its just a smoked jalapeno pepper.
the plural version of cul-de-sac is culs-de-sac
Vikings did not wear helmets with decorative horns.
Weren't all berserkers, worked most the time as farmers, craftmen and traders - and according to others were seen a bit as snobs for bathing a lot
Thee and Thou were actually the *informal* forms. The King James Bible used them so that the relationship with God would seem more personal.
Just like a dormitory is a place where you sleep, a laboratory is a place where you labor.
Tear ducts drain tears, they don't produce them.
Lacrimal glands make the tears that lacrimal (tear) ducts release/drain
My favorite thing to tell people: Penguins swim faster than Michael Phelps. Remember that discovery special that pitted a shark against him to see who was faster? Completely stupid, because even shark FOOD swims faster than he does! (Sharks eat penguins, to clarify)
Cold water cleans just as well as warm water does.
When using modern detergent, clothes will be equally clean whether warm or cold water is used. There is one major difference: warm water uses much more energy (about 75 percent of the energy used for a load of laundry comes from warming the water).
Not entirely true. Warm water can dissolve chemicals faster and with higher solubility. It can also improve enzymatic activity (up to a point specific to the enzymes) which is often in laundry detergent. Fat, for instance, is a lot easier to clean with hot water than with cold water.
Note: this post originally had 49 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Most likely was the full thing before they shortened it to the top whatever.
Load More Replies...'A' and 'An' depend on how the 'H' is sounded. If it's silent, it's 'An' ('an honest person'). If it's pronounced, it's 'A' ('a high mountain'). So it's 'a historic event'.
Depends on what the second letter is as well. It has to be a vowel.
Load More Replies...#5 not always true. I called the cops on an abusive ex over 10 years ago. Grabbed and smashed the phone before I could say where I was. Cops showed up 3 minutes later 10 feet from me. Ex was shocked lol. Obviously still try to make your location the first thing you say. Not all systems may have that capability.
Most likely was the full thing before they shortened it to the top whatever.
Load More Replies...'A' and 'An' depend on how the 'H' is sounded. If it's silent, it's 'An' ('an honest person'). If it's pronounced, it's 'A' ('a high mountain'). So it's 'a historic event'.
Depends on what the second letter is as well. It has to be a vowel.
Load More Replies...#5 not always true. I called the cops on an abusive ex over 10 years ago. Grabbed and smashed the phone before I could say where I was. Cops showed up 3 minutes later 10 feet from me. Ex was shocked lol. Obviously still try to make your location the first thing you say. Not all systems may have that capability.