‘Mildly Interesting’: An Online Group Exploring The Weird And Wonderful Side Of Everyday Life (50 New Pics)
The internet is awash with content designed to provoke a harsh reaction. Whether it’s spite for celebrities and their drama, anger from sensationalist reporting, or one of the latest cringe compilations, consuming all this can leave you with a bad taste in the mouth.
That’s why we’ve decided to help you with a little palate cleanser. It’s time to put on your slippers, grab a glass of room-temperature tap water and make yourself comfortable. When you’re ready, enjoy a few of Bored Panda’s latest entrées of ‘Mildly Interesting’ morsels.
The name of the Reddit page that collects these photos is a bit of a misnomer. Although /r/MildlyInteresting doesn’t post jaw-dropping content, there’s always something fascinating and it injects a little wonder into the everyday. We love the page here at Bored Panda, that’s why we’ve written on it once, twice, thrice and uh… four times before. So, be sure to check them out after this one!
This post may include affiliate links.
My Hotel Phone In Iceland Has A Special Button That Will Wake You Up If There Are Northern Lights In The Sky
/r/MildlyInteresting has captured the intrigue of over 19M people, so it goes to show that the content is more than just a little bit interesting.
Bored Panda spoke with one of the moderators, RedSquaree, on the continuing success of the page. They said, "I think we've done an amazing job of curating a subreddit that is still niche despite being hugely popular."
"The content is roughly the same today as it was almost a decade ago. Most subs change (for the worse) as they grow, but we've kept things mild—just the way people want it," they explained.
My Dining Room Table Houses A Secret Spiral Staircase
looks very cool, but there's a problem though, if some one is using the said table when you are below, you can't go out easily or you'll knock off things on it
Load More Replies...Okay, but can we take a moment out to discuss the wallpaper? This person seems very interesting. Lol
Ok honestly I was unnerved. In my coma years back a hidden spiral staircase uncannily like this was something I "used" every day in my coma 'dream'. Its like the matrix or inception man I hope I woke up lol
"Earthquake! Quick under the table!" "no no no, get IN the table"
I think the real conversation piece is that badminton wallpaper. It takes quite the dedication to the sport to cover your walls with shuttlecocks.
OMG, they're named "shuttlecocks"?? That's fantastic! didn't know that. We just call them "featherball". Although thinking on it, Shuttlecock and Featherball sounds like a weird porn-flick :-P
Load More Replies...Ohhhhh myyyyy gosssshhhh! I love it! What's down the staircase?? I have to know!
You have a secret spiral staircase and a cat! I am so jealous.
Two cats at least - it is not the same kitty in the two pictures...
Load More Replies...I think not all of us have seen that they are two different cats.
Load More Replies...How is this mildly interesting? This is super interesting!! What is down the stairs? Secret agent laboratory? Secret lair of tuxedo cats plotting to take over the world? Underworld badminton fight club tournament??
looks like it could be a wine cellar. I have seen things like this before, and they are super cool.
I've seen this before and I so want to see pictures of what it looks like down there
I have to have this. I must! Though not sure what the people who live below me may think...
This is a really cool idea, but what's with the badminton wallpaper?! Also, those are two different cats.
My Apartment Complex Rented Out 200 Goats To Eat Away At The Overgrown Path And Riverbed Behind Our Buildings!
New career goal: owning a Rent-a-Goat business ("No Job Too Shrubby")
Missing Cat Owner Posted A Follow Up Where The Previous Missing Posters Were
I Came In My Kitchen To Find A Lizard Using A Sponge As A Raft In The Sink. (I Live In New Mexico)
Woo Hoo - this is fun!!!! Come back in 10 - I'm enjoying myself here.
I Gave My Wife LEGO Flowers For Her Birthday
It's hard to define what makes something 'mildly interesting' but in my opinion, there’s a certain theme running throughout. The images shared usually go against the grain of what we consider as “normal”. Or, they highlight some bizarre coincidence that we would never have expected.
However, everyone sees it differently. Since RedSquaree has been moderating the page for some time, I asked for their views on the secret formula behind the photos posted and how they would define them. They said, "Everyone probably has a slightly different interpretation or idea of what is mildly interesting." But they believe that the concept of relatability is most important—it has to be "nothing spectacular but something novel".
But this can also make it difficult to moderate the content being posted on the page. They explained further, "Sometimes we see users post to /r/mildlyinteresting first (because if they didn't, it would break rule 3 of our page). Then, they go on to crosspost to /r/damnthatsinteresting. And we're thinking to ourselves, '/r/HolUp, it can't be both'."
This Incredibly Detailed Picture I Took Of A Bonfire
When I Went To Switzerland And Happened To Look Exactly Like This Random Wood Statue
Miniature Traffic Playground In Copenhagen Where Kids Learn To Bike In Traffic
So, should the content be strictly regulated before posting? RedSquaree doesn't think so, at least for now. They said, "Many people have recommended we make a Rule 7, so content must be mild or it gets removed. But it would be so problematic to enforce that we haven't gone that far... yet."
They also told us about their personal favorites handpicked by the moderator team. RedSquaree said, "We have a 'Quality Post' link flair which we use (sparingly) to tag on submissions we find particularly mildly interesting. Everything we've marked 'Quality Post' can be considered officially mildly interesting."
A Supplier Of Ours Now Fills His Packages With Air-Cushions Made Out Of Paper Instad Of Plastic
How much does a packet of air cost? Because I want in on this ASAP.................
How Well Our Movers Tetris’d Our Stuff
Dang, that is genius level! it should never be touched again: a monument to perfection.
Last Night My Wife's Uber Had A Duck In It
When we’re so accustomed to seeing something in one way, our thoughts are suddenly shaken up when it suddenly appears differently or juxtaposed with something else. It’s a great reminder to rethink what we know and open ourselves up to new possibilities. But there’s a reason why we build these cognitive biases in our minds.
I Was Trying To Take A Picture Of The Guy In The Costume And A Person With With Opposite Colors Walked Into The Frame
My Butter This Morning Looks Like A Happy Naked Man
My Local Library Has Cake Pans Available To Check Out!
A research paper called the Theory of Cognitive Pattern Recognition seeks to find out how and why we build these links in our minds. The paper defines pattern recognition as “a process of inputting stimulating (pattern) information and matching it with the information in long-term memory, then recognizing the category that the stimulation belongs to. Therefore, pattern recognition depends on people’s knowledge and experience.”
Found An Arrowhead In A Dried Up Stream!
The Banisters At My Hotel Were Held Up By Little Metal Men
Townhouse In Dc Has A Cute Little Model Townhouse In Its Front Yard (And The Model Has Its Own Model!)
My Fiancé Capped The End Of A Cut Banana With Banana Skin
Before It Was Sprouted, This Tree Went To The Moon
This Ornamental Hand At My Local IKEA With The Middle Finger Ziptied Down
The Tailgate Of This Truck Is Painted To Look Like There’s A Bulldog In The Bed Of The Truck
This Group We Came Across In A Forest Casually Hiking In Medieval Outfits
A Cast Iron Cauldron I Found Buried In My Forest
There Was A Massive Pirate Ship Driving Around My Neighborhood
This Shopping Cart Has A Spot For Kids To Stand On While The Parent Pushes
The Way My Wife Eats Cheetos Without Messing Up Her Mouse
Brilliant! No need to have a mouse that looks like Donald Trump's face
One Of Our Local Libraries Moved Into An Old Marsh Supermarket
Feels like one of those dreams where you see familiar places but get confused too.
My Cat Fell Asleep Looking Like He's Standing Up
Saw A Knight In The Park The Other Day
The Gap In My Bedroom Window Became A Pinhole Camera
Color Coordinated Wristbands For Back To Work Post Covid
Bought 2 Different Sizes Of Shoes, But The Boxes Align Perfectly With One Another
A Century Old Suit
Found An E Than Survived The Recycling Process On The Cardboard We Use At Work
This Jeep’s Break Lights Are Jeeps
60 Doses Of Pfizer Vaccine Ready To Go
The Crack In The Door Splits My Grow Light Into Different Colors
My Wife And I Had Plane Snacks That Matched Our Books On Our Way To Our Honeymoon
Lowercase Stopsign
The Air Filter I Just Took Out Of My Lawnmower vs. The One I Replaced It With
This Pressure Washer Looks Like Mike Wazowski
The Hallway To My Dentist Office Looks Like A Stanley Kubrick Scene
It does! So does the hallway outside my floor. Every single time i see the twins. Every single time...........
The Door Into My Work Casts A Solid Rainbow For A Few Minutes In The Mornings
My Peas & Lentils Look Like An Ishihara Test
The Inside Of My Inflatable Air Mattress
This Is A Truck Carrying The Signs You See On The Interstate
Really gives you perspective on how big they are (obviously I know they’re huge but you can’t always tell how big while driving in a car)
This Egg Has No Yolk
A 130 Year Old Crypt Found While Renovating A Church In Sc, They Put A Glass Window On It So You Could See The Face
My Mom Still Has Napkins From The Original Space Jam
My Grandma Made Her Shopping Bag Out Of Plastic Bags
Little Delivery Robots In The Wild
They look cute now, but wait until they override their programming and attack Jeff Bezos
My Pen Ran Out Of Ink On The Last Page Of This Notepad
Now that is a classic example of perfect timing.....................
My Coffee Looks Like Jupiter
My Chocolate Bun Looks Like A Tardigrade
Took A Picture Of My Cousin At Their Wedding Table And It Caught The Grooms Nose
There's A Patch On My Leg That Doesn't Get Goosebumps
My Toothpaste Made This Perfect Swirl
But... Are you going to destroy the swirl JUST to use toothpaste ????
Curious George Getting High In A Children's Book That I Have
For those who don't already know (like me) I very kindly sought out the description from Wikipedia for my fellow Pandas to enjoy: - Ethers are a class of organic compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula R–O–R′, where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be classified into two varieties: if the alkyl groups are the same on both sides of the oxygen atom, then it is a simple or symmetrical ether, whereas if they are different, the ethers are called mixed or unsymmetrical ethers.[1] A typical example of the first group is the solvent and anesthetic diethyl ether, commonly referred to simply as "ether" (CH3–CH2–O–CH2–CH3). Ethers are common in organic chemistry and even more prevalent in biochemistry, as they are common linkages in carbohydrates and lignin.[2]
Just Found An Old Roll Of Biodegradable Poop Bags, They Really Do Disintegrate Like Advertised
Fully Oxidized Copper Pipe Next To A Non Oxidized Copper Pipe
A Plane Crash I Hiked To In North Carolina
Saw Our Pilot Dangling Out The Window To Clean The Windshield
These Straws Made Out Of Pasta So They Don't Dissolve Like Paper
These Batteries Are Flavored So Kids Won't Eat Them
I Grabbed An Onion That Was Jammed In The Dicer
This Grave Stone I Found In The Woods
Two 666 License Plate In A Row
I Got A Mosquito Bite Next To A Tattoo And It Made The Letters Swell Up Into 3D
This License Plate With All B’s And 8’s
Wonder if it helps get out of tickets if the cops write the number down wrong?
At The Gas Pump Someone Wrote Which Button Silences Ads Being Shown
ads at the gas pumps? why? where?!?! what's the purpose? sooo many questions
This Flat Fire Extinguisher I Found
My Hotel Used To Be A Prison
Really needs a stainless steel toilet/sink combo and someone playing the harmonica next door
Lemon Slices Float, But Lime Slices Don't
They will, once they are saturated with water. Or wa'er, if you're in London.
My -14.75 Prescription Glasses
My Roommate Cleaned Some Old Pool Balls And They Came Out Looking Like Jawbreakers
Injuries At My Local Amazon Warehouse
I Stumbled Across This Car That’s Painted Half Black And Half White
Wear-And-Tear On Playground Monkeybars Decreases As The Distance Increases
Wow this takes me back!! I can even remember the smell of these monkey bars! It was like a metal / sticky lollipop / fizzy drink smell! Ha ha ha! awww
My Job Has A Pair Of Pallet Jacks That Remind Me Of Cosmo And Wanda
I had to Google. It seems it comes from a cartoon show named "The Fairly OddParents". Never seen it before.
This Gamestop Next To This Smashburger Really Highlight The Similarities Between Both Of Their Logos
My Flight Today Has A Dead Person Aboard
I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHERF*CKING ZOMBIES ON MY MOTHERF*CKING PLANE!
My Gym's Vending Machine Organizes Water Based On It's Temperature
30 Years Ago, My Grandfather Encased This Meatball In Epoxy
My Wineglass Broke In The Shape Of Australia
This Screwdriver That Has Been Worn Down From Years Of Scraping Grip Tape At A Skate Shop
This McDonald's Sign Is Missing The "M" Arch
Some Of The Word Choices For This Puzzle
I Accidentally Dressed Like The Chair At My Dentist Appointment Today
So do I, Stephanie. I usually scroll through the new articles to see what they have added, and this is the first one I read when I find one like this. More than "mildly" interesting to me.
Load More Replies...Very interesting! I love it. I never seem to find interesting things like that.
This sounds like an excellent real world mindfulness challenge
Load More Replies...Interestingly enough, while reading this I learned that my phones touch screen registers bread. So I can use bread to scroll down the list. Knowing how unhygienic phones are though, im not gonna do that
LOVED these images - surreal dada and expressionist moments in real life that prove we live in a beautiful world full of visual poetry if we just take a moment to ponder and enjoy the bliss.
I enjoyed this. I think the first thirty or so were moderately to extremely interesting, and after that, it hit a stride of mildly interesting.
So do I, Stephanie. I usually scroll through the new articles to see what they have added, and this is the first one I read when I find one like this. More than "mildly" interesting to me.
Load More Replies...Very interesting! I love it. I never seem to find interesting things like that.
This sounds like an excellent real world mindfulness challenge
Load More Replies...Interestingly enough, while reading this I learned that my phones touch screen registers bread. So I can use bread to scroll down the list. Knowing how unhygienic phones are though, im not gonna do that
LOVED these images - surreal dada and expressionist moments in real life that prove we live in a beautiful world full of visual poetry if we just take a moment to ponder and enjoy the bliss.
I enjoyed this. I think the first thirty or so were moderately to extremely interesting, and after that, it hit a stride of mildly interesting.