50 Reassuring Facts Not Everyone Might Be Aware Of, According To People Online
Interview With ExpertYou don’t need me to tell you that life can be tough—it’s a truth as old as time. But just because it’s a cliché doesn’t make it any less real. That’s exactly why getting through the struggles, tackling the curveballs, and holding onto a glass-half-full perspective can feel like such a monumental task.
Even the hardest days, however, can be made a little easier with some uplifting thoughts.
This wholesome Reddit thread is here to do just that: offer a collection of reassuring facts to bring you some comfort. Scroll down to soak it all in, and don’t miss our chat with Tracy Bevan, a specialist in transformative positive psychology, for tips on maintaining an optimistic mindset.
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You cannot save everyone. But the small kindnesses you share can dramatically affect the people around you, even if they feel insignificant to you.
Shout out to the guy at the supermarket the other day who patted me on the shoulder and said, "You're going to be ok." He had no way of knowing that I suffer from chronic depression, and that I'm in a dark place at the moment. He just thought I looked sad or empty or whatever and took a moment to remind me that it's ok to be human. It was nothing to him, but in that moment it was everything for me.
Same to the nurse down at the Mulbarton who saw me crying with pain and even though she wasn't the one dealing with me, she came over and gave me a hug (after asking if I would be okay with one). We need more people like her.
I think of the woman who gave me reassurance when my pet hedgehog passed away. I was a mess in the waiting area, crying as they took my little prickly pear back to see if she could be saved. The woman came up, asked if I was losing my baby, I said yes, and she hugged me and told me how sorry she was. I don't even know her name or remember what she looked like but the fact that another human could see me at that time was so needed.
I stutter, and the gesture of one of my patient's mothers calling my office just to thank me for helping her son see a fellow stutterer living a successful life, was amazing. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't until I started to own it instead of it owning me, that I became me. I gave this kid hope and didn't know it until his mom called me... I thought he was just shy. It's the little things that pack a great punch.
I'm curious about the neurological basis for stuttering and stammering. I will sometimes stammer when under stress or very excited.
Load More Replies...I have both feet injured. On my way home, there's one bus driver who never lets me sit before moving the bus. A lady helped me when she saw me struggling to keep upright, and shouted at the driver to stop. It's people like her that I give me some optimism that not everyone is just looking out for themselves and that I'm not unworthy of being helped. It can feel like that at times.
this is the sole reason i lament still wearing a mask when i'm out; i don't know that the eye-crinkling part of me smiling gets it across to people. before the pandemic i'd try and smile at anyone i made eye contact with.
Brighten the corner where you are, and if enough of us do that, we light the world. All the big things are made up of small things.
A cats purr released oxytocin and has a naturally calming effect.
My not my cat/kitten produced 3 babies at fart o'clock yesterday morning on the doormat on the deck. She was extremely vocal and woke me up, my bedroom opens onto the deck. They are all now in a house in my house. I canceled her spay appointment.
Load More Replies...My cat is a constant source of wellness for me. I hope I am the same for him.
The frequency of cat purring has been shown to fall between 25 and 140 Hz. The same frequency has been shown to aid in the healing of broken bones, joint and tendon repair, and wound healing. Cats are WAY ahead of us!
After a tough day, there was nothing more comforting than curling up with my cats while they had a purr fest.
Actions have consequences, which seems usually to refer to negative things when people say it, but if actions have consequences, then positive actions can have positive consequences.
This was a big realization for me to find hope and motivation in the depths of depression.
I am definitely not naive enough to know money I give to 'beggars' could be used for booze, d***s, whatever - my deed is good for my conscience, but what they do with that money is on theirs.
" Positive actions can have positive consequences." Yes, they can. But there's also the Law of Unintended Consequences and "No good deed goes unpunished."
Guess the internet's negative bias will not be outshone this day
Load More Replies...According to this year’s Ipsos Global Happiness report, people worldwide are happier now than during the pandemic, though not as much as they were a decade ago. Around 71% of respondents across 30 countries describe themselves as happy—an improvement from 63% in 2020 but still short of the 77% recorded in 2011.
While these numbers might not seem too bleak, they’re a reminder that close to a third of the planet is unfulfilled with their lives. So much of what affects how we feel is beyond our control—circumstances, setbacks, or challenges we didn’t see coming—and staying optimistic can be hard in the face of it all.
To learn how we can nurture a brighter mindset, Bored Panda spoke with Tracy Bevan, a specialist in transformative positive psychology and founder of Positive Being Coaching.
Bevan shared that one practice that can make a big difference is reflection. “Reflecting on your life, how it is going and your role in it is crucial to wellbeing,” she explains. “It allows you to build a sense of agency. Agency is the feeling you are able to achieve the things you want to in life.”
“Without this reflection, life can feel like something that is happening to us. Instead, be an active participant!”
Elephants' brains react the same way looking at us, as ours do when we see puppies. They think we're cute.
Since you want to be pedantic about it: "There is evidence that elephants' brains react to humans in the same way that human brains react to puppies. Some researchers theorize that this may be because we invoke the same emotional responses in elephants as puppies do to us; to wit, that they find us 'cute'." Is that better?
Load More Replies...I cannot found the source of this statement.. But, animal emotion is not constant, just like ours.. Some study says that elephant often see human as threat..
You never feel like a grown up. You mostly just fake it and assume everyone else are actual adults. My data is only valid from ages 0-46 years of age.
Crazy_Raven_Lady:
Yep 44 here and I don’t feel like an adult. I always get nervous to meet my kids friends parents cause I figure they are real adults and they’ll be onto me.
davisolzoe:
I feel like a teenager working on projects on the garage, I’m 66.
I'm 42. Two of my best friends are in their 70s. When I go to them for guidance on something, I tell them I need a grownup's help. My other best friend is 27. They overheard me saying this to one of our older friends, and now they say it when they come to me. It's become our group's little joke.
I love your group. Wish I could be a part of it. At my last job, the three of us in the office were 22M, 52M and me - 70F. We spanned a lot of time. The two guys were ok with my bringing in stuck jars that I couldn't open.
Load More Replies...my dad told me a long time ago. Growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional
If you haven’t matured by the time you’re 50, then you don’t have to
Load More Replies...Some of us feel as old as time with the weight of world sitting on our shoulders
Load More Replies...Yup. Teenagers still intimidate me, and I don't feel on a higher level than anyone younger than me, like I viewed adults when I was a teen. I don't dress like an adult nor do I have an adult-y home. Still watch cartoons and read Archie comics. My purse has my favourite characters dangling from it. Life is good. I get to live like a teenager but with money and the odd responsibilities.
When I was growing up, I somehow fastened onto the belief that when I was 21 I would have everything figured out. I was a cynical 19 year-old and a very disappointed 20 year-old🤣
Your dog dreams about you.
Reassuring? Sure? Factual? I'm just a tiny bit skeptical that any dogs are telling researchers what they're dreaming about.
I believe this to be true based on one of my dogs physical actions when sleeping. My little poodle X shih tzu does this thing when she wants to be picked up for her 'baby belly rub'. She raises her front paws then, while standing on her rear legs, she then lifts her right hind leg a little. She only does this to/for me because I'm the only one that does such a perfect belly rub. I've seen her do the same movement (albeit while lying on her side) while sleeping, followed by the leg twitch that the belly rub often produces.
That's as close to definitive as we're ever likely to get.
Load More Replies...They certainly dream about something. From watching their paws move while they're asleep I'm guessing it's squirrels or the like however.
Mine runs and barks in his sleep. It could be chasing squirrels, or maybe reliving playing in the dog park with his brother and other dogs. Or something else altogether. Sometimes the barks sound distressed and I hope it's not a nightmare. When it seems like he's having a bad dream I'll cup my hands over his nose, and that seems to calm him.
Load More Replies...One-time I had a nightmare that someone had cut my dog in half (transverse-section-style)... and that he was still alive and I was desperately trying to sew him back together 😱. Not realistic at all... no bleeding... no suturing of the individual organs... and, well, remaining alive while cut in half is a pretty big indicator, too... but somehow sewing him up like a stuffed animal would fix him, so hey. Woke up and hugged that little f****r like I was never going to let him go.
Load More Replies...Cats dream about laying on a big cushy pillow on the kitchen island having his/her minions catering to their every need.
Load More Replies...How did anybody figure this out? Not as if you can ask dogs what their dreams are like.
While we can’t prevent bad things from happening, Bevan notes that finding meaning in tough experiences can help us recover and even grow stronger. “The people who recover sooner or even come back stronger are the ones who can find meaning in what has happened—to find a purpose in random life events—and then use this to carry them forward,” she says.
What we can control, however, are our daily habits. Bevan points out that small, consistent actions can set us on a path toward more positive thinking.
“The ABC of wellbeing are sleep, food (and water), movement, and breathing,” Bevan says. “Dull but true. Building regular routines around these generates a sense of agency. They are little daily activities that we can (in most situations) control.”
She shares her personal experience: “I started walking every morning during Covid, and it changed how I view myself and my capacity to achieve the things I want to. It has been the foundation from which my confidence and mental and physical health has blossomed.”
“Add to this the taking time to reflect I spoke about earlier. This could be in the form of journaling, a gratitude diary, or any other way you choose to pause and acknowledge the day,” Bevan suggests. “Think about what you brought to it by being present, by being you, and savor that feeling.”
At the same time, Bevan advises against forcing yourself into habits that don’t resonate with you. “Don’t try to keep a gratitude journal if it leaves you cold. Harness your individual strengths instead. One of my key strengths is playfulness, so I keep a ‘funny things’ journal instead—the silly things that make me giggle through the week,” she explains.
Dogs have an innate sense of loyalty and will go to great lengths, even traveling vast distances, to reunite with the people they love. In the 1920s, a collie named Bobby got lost during a road trip and was separated from his family. He traveled over 2,500 miles across the U.S. to find his way back home, reuniting with them after several months!
I could not possibly leave without my dog, no matter how long it took to find him.
Our cat was staying with friends across "town" (Las Vegas) while we moved to another state with plans to send him to us once we had a place to live. He ran away from our friend's house and they found him, wandering the street where we used to live. We had him sent then while we looked for housing.
There have been quite a few instances of one person saying about another person "He has all the characteristics of a dog, except loyalty". I would say the same about my dog too, given the number of places we have had to come and collect him from
Those people mark territory by peeing on everything?
Load More Replies...It's quite hard for me to belive. I mean how did he know the way? What about obstruction like big motorways, cities, rivers and lakes and stuff?
Stuff like this happens all the time. Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't true.
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Nobody is really looking or watching or even cares what you are doing out in public. The vast majority of the people that you see are so busy taking care of their own business that whatever they saw of you was forgotten in a few of minutes at most. I know that I have no recollection of most people I see in public after I leave the venue (supermarket, home depot, etc.) Except for the woman in dirty pajamas at Walmart spraying Febreeze on herself in the big aisle.
People dont notice if things are unnoteworthy. If you suddenly sit up straight as if yousaw something, people will also look up or adjust their seat. If you sway with music, more people will start to show some rythm. We notice what is pertinent for group activeties, at least.
Just like an old prank we used to pull when we were kids. If you walk down the street looking up at nothing, people will start looking up too, to try to see what you see. Some might even convince themselves they actually see something. That one’s so old it’s got whiskers.
Load More Replies...The OP has never lived in a small town, where life is a spectator sport.
Oh, I think this depends on wat type of person you are. I'm a people watcher. Trust me, I notice you in public. Granted, if I've never seen you before, I don't know if that's the way you normally look or dress, so I won't know if you're 'out of sorts', but I did notice you stumble over your own feet and try to style it out. I saw you look for a snog rag, before giving up and using your inner sleeve.
Oh I'm watching and judging every a*****e listeng to music or watching videos without headphones or throwing garbage on the ground in public
The internet is full of proof against this. Heck the list before this one is a bunch of people minding their own business in public, but being noticed for not conforming.
Apparently the random unknown people who appear in our dreams are the people we didn’t notice throughout the day.
Yeah, unless you are the homeless Chinese guy in the gay district of San Fran, waking across the street with a walker you don't need, wearing 6 winter coats in August, penis hanging out of your pants and urinating as you walk...I probably didn't notice you. I noticed that guy, though..lmfao. it was the best part of my trip!
I find some people purposely try to pretend they don't notice what's going on. They have their backpack sitting on the seat beside them, eyes glued to their phones and refuse to acknowledge someone wants to sit at that seat. But I also see times are shifting and that people are starting to be more aware of their surroundings.
The earth will eventually heal itself from the pollution sometime after humans are extinct.
But until humans go extinct we will just keep f*****g up the earth, so the rich can get richer.
And electing stupid people who will reinforce that.
Load More Replies...I don't think people deserve the earth the way it's been treated. At least the native tribes are fighting for the earth and animals. They got the dams taken down on the Klamath and their hard work has lead to record salmon runs this fall
That used to be true, but it's no longer a sure bet. If a number of climate tipping points are reached (melting permafrost, melting ice sheets, deforestation, etc) runaway warming could turn the earth into a hothouse incapable of supporting life as we know it.
Depends what you mean on heal. It would adapt for sure. Honestly I'm not sure we can destroy the earth, we can just change it. If everything is dead on it.. it's still the earth.
Load More Replies...Just read an article about what the Earth would be like if humans went poof. A great example is Chernobyl, the worst nuclear power plant accident releasing the largest uncontrolled amount of radioactivity in '86, yet it is now safe to visit. Plants and animals have rebounded already, and it's now considered a wildlife haven. So, this proves that humans are unnecessary and how the Earth would be better off without them.
The only downside is the shortened lifespan. There's all kinds of wild animals, but they only live about half as long as normal. But yeah eventually that will get better too.
Load More Replies...Businesses using 'the economy' to justify not implementing green policies. Because of course money is much more important than the survival of our species.
We saw this during COVID. How many Asian cities suddenly had clear skies during the lockdown? (Looking at you, Manila.) Won't take very long, all we need to do is hurry up and go extinct.
The water in Venice's canals improved so much that they now require cruise ships to anchor further from the shore.
Load More Replies...Yep, humans are just a tiny blip in the existence of the earth. We'll take out a lot of other species with us, but the earth, and life on earth, will be just fine. It's survived much worse than us.
Being optimistic doesn’t mean you need to feel overjoyed every second of the day. Instead, it’s about finding balance and not letting difficult emotions overwhelm you.
“All emotions are important,” Bevan says. “Who ever said we should be happy all the time? That’s not going to happen. Trying to ignore or downplay difficult feelings like sadness, anger, grief, or frustration will only lead to problems further down the line.”
She encourages embracing your emotions fully. “The more you do, the more you will notice and relish the positive things when they do come along,” Bevan notes. “Optimism and hope are the routes back out of the hard times. Don’t force them, but remember that nothing stays the same forever, and the bad times will pass too.”
Finally, Bevan reminds us of the importance of connection: “If you have been stuck in one difficult emotion for a while, please find someone to talk to. Things are always more manageable when they are spoken about.”
If Mr. Rogers met you there's a strong chance he'd be very proud of how far you've come.
An extremely kind man who hosted a children's television show in the US (I think in Canada too?). Sorry about your downvotes for asking a simple question.
Load More Replies...@RamiRudolph, I’m sorry people downvoted you so far no one can reply to you. It sounds like you’re going through a really hard time and think that even Mister Rogers wouldn’t be proud of you. But I guess people took your comment as an insult against Mr. Rogers. I hope you can believe that there are people out there who are either proud of you, or think highly enough to have faith that you can do better. I’m rooting for you.
There is a social phenomenon called the “liking gap” where there tends to be a discrepancy between how much a person thinks another person likes them and that other person’s actual opinion of them.
Studies have found that people tend to *underestimate* how much people like them and want to spend time with them.
I read about a study that demonstrated that most people consider themselves to be less attractive than they think they are. They asked artists to draw people based on how the person described themselves, versus based on how a person they had just met described them. In almost every case, the drawing based on the description of the new acquaintance was judged to be more attractive, compared to the portrait based on how the person described themself.
I tend to over-estimate. I figure it out when they start avoiding me or get annoyed.
Wrong. I can NEVER underestimate the length of time that people want to have me around.
Solar is already one of the cheapest forms of energy humanity has ever created, and it's still getting cheaper.
My city started putting up solar panels on all public buildings about 15 years ago. And when I say "all public buildings," I mean it. City hall, both branches of the public library, all the public schools, the social security office and DMV, even the main office for the buses, all of them. Currently, my city uses something like 45% solar energy for its energy needs and has saved the taxpayers several million dollars in energy costs.
In Florida "The Sunshine State" it is unaffordable. Also in Florida, if you have solar panels and produce more energy than you are using you have to pay the power company a fee before they will accept that power to the grid to lower your bill.
Well, if this person produces more than they use, then the bill is already quite low. Same issue in the Netherlands, because people became greedy and operate more panels than they need. The net cannot handle the overproduction of electricity, so they need to pay to pump electricity in. The problem can be easily solved by only using as much panels as one needs, and switching them off if not needed.
Load More Replies...It's literally FREE ENERGY. We just have to collect it. 173,000 Terawatts of energy. About 10,000 times what we actually use in all forms of energy. Petro Chemical, Nuclear, EVERYTHING.
Our collection efficiency is still below 50%, we're still wasting most of it. Technological improvements on photovoltaic efficiency will be amazing.
Load More Replies...Solar farms also provide much needed shade for domestic animals and wildlife.
And it's unfortunately getting cheaper through the usual exploitative practices.
Load More Replies...Solar and wind energy cannot be owned or shut off. This makes them the most social, reliable and cheap sources of energy. However, they need to be "mined", too, and there is where the challenge is. Simple solar ovens can be produced with little to no harm to the environment, even recycled material is good enough. They were built thousands of years ago already. Solar panels are a different thing. Windmills are common since thousands of years, modern ones are not that easy.
Ummm...a co-worker investigated a solar supplement/conversion a couple years ago. She is nearing 70/yo, the estimate was $50k.
Indirectly, solar is the most common power used. Coal, oil, and natural gas are all the result of the energy stored in plants through photosynthesis at some point in the far past. Hydroelectric power is the result of water being evaporated by the sun, and ending up condensing and falling onto a higher location than where it was when it evaporated. That energy released from water when going over the waterfall comes from the energy it absorbed when evaporating.
I wouldn't say "cheap" in Hawaii one solar panel is like $5k and you need at least 10 to make it worth while to save $...
Most of the things we worry about never actually happen. There's a stat about this, a psychologist looked into it and found around 85% of what we worry about never becomes reality. It’s just our brains trying to keep us "prepared."
Wait. 15% of the stuff I worry about is going to happen? I am *so* f****d.
I worry about all the things that will kill me, so 15% isn’t that bad.
Load More Replies...There's an old proverb: "Whatever is prepared for, never occurs. And even if it does, you're already prepared for it."
One reason. If you're worried about something happening, sometimes you take steps to prevent or avoid it.
Well it makes sense in that if you worry about this thing happening, then you try to avoid it, so it is unlikely to happen then.
I stress over *everything*, so my hit rate is very, very low. Sadly, I've never learned the obvious lesson from that.
Your brain is constantly rewiring itself, so even if you're stuck in a bad habit or mindset, you can always change it with enough effort, no matter how old you are.
And sometimes I guess you need some or more help to achieve that?
Load More Replies...Had a kayaking pal nearly drown when he had an accident on a river in spate, we dragged him out and drained him of water, gave him a lot of breaths before paramedics arrived, he ended up in hospital for nearly 18 months. In the early stages after he came out of the coma his hands / arms / legs would involuntarily twitch and he had no recognisable speech. The docs said his brain needed to work out which bits of his brain were connected to which parts of his body. He basically relearned how to function. Three years after the accident he was back at University with a couple of twitches that were noticeable, he’s now 30 years on and is in tip top condition, the human brain can do amazing stuff. The NHS is awesome too.
Neuroplasticity, and humans have a lot of it. It does fade as we get older though.
Even after a TBI, the brain will begin re-wiring itself, which is why some people can recover some or all motor skills after a stroke. However, people like myself who have had multiple TBIs, have post-concussion syndrome that can include headaches, dizziness, and trouble with concentration and memory. My daily headaches, bouts of dizziness, inability to concentrate, and severe memory dysfunction means my brain isn't re-wiring itself effectively.
I hope your brain continues to re-wire until it gets it right.
Load More Replies...I was having some balance issues following a vision loss, so I asked my doctor to please give me a referral for physical therapy. I needed a reason to get out of my apartment and not be stuck inside.
Sure sure, of course you can. Now try and tell that to all the serial durg addicts, all the depressed people making the same mistakes over and over. Yes, it's all in the mind; no, they can't all just change it, no matter how much effort.
If the person wants to change themselves it can happen but help is needed to do so. It's like the person who is court-ordered to attend AA meetings or get alcohol counseling. Many will attend because they have to; some may take hold of the process and recover, others will just go back to the way they were.
Load More Replies...Not accurate. There are parts of your brain that are hardwired. Behaviors that are hard wired cannot be changed. However, many bad habits are in parts of the brain that are not hard wired, and hard-wired behaviors can be subverted. So we are hard wired to prefer "Our Group" over "others". However, we can rewire our brain to consider all humans and even other species as "our group",. That is why people can unite against "a common enemy", because it makes it easier to rewire our brain to include former enemies or rivals as part of our group.
But your brain is not your only organ that changes when you develop bad habits (consider the "memory effect" in fat cells, for example), so it's often not just a matter of unwinding your thinking.
Let's also note that everyone's "enough effort" is not the same. Easy to say, "You can fix yourself with enough effort," when the effort involved might be staggering.
The only “normal” people are the ones you don’t know very well. Everyone is weird in their own unique way.
let's be independent, together! You are unique, just like everybody else!
Wrong!! The weirdos in my family are normal to me. If they stopped being weirdos, that would be very weird.
Cows have best friends.
One of the reasons I stopped eating meat! These are sentient creatures! I love them
A lot of herd animals do. I see it with my goats and donkeys, I used to see in the sheep back home... Heck, even the chickens seem to pair up in the same little groups.
And they have feelings and cry when they are mooving into the chopping block...and when their children are taken away...
Yes and they also can be really mean to a cow they dobt like! We had one cow who was shunned by the herd and when we got another cow they teamed up and became besties. The cow who was shunned initially started producing more milk when she got a friend as well 🤗
Actually, sometimes they drink from their bestie's udder, so farmers put some plastic device in their face (nose, I believe) which be hurtful to the bestie's udder if they try to drink.
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An elevator can not drop if the cable breaks. Thank you Mr. Otis.
Yes, that's what they meant. It will _start_ to drop, then the automatic brake, based on the same basic idea that Mr Otis developed 100-odd years ago will bring it to a controlled stop.
Load More Replies...The presumption is that it drops all the way to the bottom. You may drop several feet, but the brakes do work.
If I were in that elevator, my face would be smashed against the door.
This would be true if the statement included "modern" elevators, because the old ones will drop since they aren't outfitted with redundant safety features.
Don't elevators have to be inspected regularly, which would greatly limit the chances of brake failure?
For some reason this makes me think of Loony Tunes
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If you can read this, your life is like waaaaay better than it would have been 100 years ago.
Excellent point. I hate using the term "First world problems", but compared to the majority of situations happening this very moment, and here we are contentedly scrolling through BP proves it. Do we have problems? Sure, but again, in comparison, not insurmountable ones.
Load More Replies...Modern medicine has saved my life and let me continue to be here. 100 years ago the medicine that I take daily didn't exist. I love today.
Same! I’d definitely be dead if it wasn’t for steroids and biologics!
Load More Replies...I've always had a dream of buying some property and living off the grid. But I'm realistic enough to realize that my poor vision is a deal breaker for that. It's not severe enough to be considered a disability because it can be treated with basic corrective lenses, but it probably should be, since I literally couldn't function without my glasses. If I'd been born even 50 years earlier, I would've been considered legally blind because the technology and materials to create the necessary prescription didn't exist yet, at least not good enough for me to be a fully functional member of society. (If anyone's wondering, there's nothing actually "wrong" with my eyes, per se. It's literally just extreme nearsightedness. My eyeballs are literally just too long for my retina 🤷♀️)
Lol people think living off the grid is easy and stress free you need a lot of outdoor, mechanical and technical skills to do it right
Load More Replies...i would say many of us women would be miserable in a bad marriage or locked up in a sanitarium for being female.
I have had both knees and both hips replaced, and I'm so grateful to be living now. Years ago, I'd be in a wheelchair.
Sadly humans see everything as relative, "Only the poor man can appreciate being rich"
Thank your teacher, albeit in a classroom, tutor, or if you were homeschooled.
And if you were to show people from 100 years ago what life is like today, most would probably "Naaaaaah".
Smiling even if you don't feel like it, can actually improve your mood.
This actually works a bit. Forcing your cheeks into a grin, even if it just is more a baring of teeth, actually helps me feel calmer. Maybe not happy exactly, but calmer and a bit more pleasant. My daughter taught me this trick years back after learning about it at school. Initially I tried it to humor her, but darned if it doesn't help.
BUT please put aside some time to allow yourself to feel exactly what you’re feeling. It’s OK to not be happy and smiling all the time, especially when you’re trying to force yourself to not feel sad. Cry it out if you have to, get it out of your system. Then try the smiling trick to start feeling better. But don’t deny your authentic, and both reasonable and understandable, emotions.
Also a smile can enhance your looks better that a drawer full of cosmetics can.
Laughter therapy is a thing to. Works on the 'fake it 'til you make it' idea.
GAH. Nooooooooo. I'm always told to smile. I've tried doing this but the I get a sense of outrage and feeling like I'm just conforming to what others what me to be. Why not just scoop out my brains and place a computer chip in there?
When I go to my supermarket, I try to at least smile at people and say "good morning" just to get myself out of a bad mood.
Fake it until you make it. Play any role long enough, and it becomes natural.
Not always. When you work with the public you are artificially smiling all day and it makes you feel worse
Slow progress is still progress.
This fact helped me get through high school and currently college. No matter how behind you are, you are closer to being caught up with each assignment you complete. You are making progress no matter how small it seems.
Even 1 step forward and 2 steps back can ultimately lead to progress if you're willing to learn from your mistakes, reassess, and try again.
Load More Replies..."The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." - Martin Luther King Jr.
I had a poster in my locker that said "Every day of school is a day closer to summer break"
If "con" is the opposite of "pro", think what "congress" represents.
Again, no it's not. If an airplane is flying 60 knots into a 70-knot wind, it will be flying backwards. That ain't progress, bro.
This is what I tell stroke patients all the time! It may not be as fast as you want it to be, but all those little achievements add up to big achievements in the end. A positive outlook and level of motivation also seem to play a big role in how well people inevitably recover.
I was in university at Berkeley, Calif. in the 1960s when there was a lot of disturbance on campus. I had to take statistics for my major, but I just didn't "get" it. I went to each class and tried to complete the homework, but I was running a solid F. On the evening of our final, the campus was closed. My professor called me at home to tell me that I could take a "pass" grade, or try again the next quarter. She wanted me to get credit for showing up and trying. She was a saint.
We’re made of the same atoms and quarks of stars, trillions of years before us. Essentially, we’re made of the universe; and in a way, that means we’re essentially the universe admiring itself. I think that’s pretty neat.
We are starlight, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, and we've got to get ourselves back to the Garden...'WOODSTOCK', Joanie Mitchell, CSNY, 1969
We are starlight, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, and we've got to get ourselves back to the Garden...'WOODSTOCK', Joanie Mitchell, 1969
Exactly. It's understandable how Ancient humans, not understanding these science applied all sorts of meaning and superstitions to the "heavens", but it's pathetic how people still cling to their gods in the face of these science facts.
That you do get a bit more self-assured in your 30s compared to your 20s and genuinely stop caring about what others think of you as much.
Even better once you hit 40 and now I'm halfway through my 50's I've genuinely never been happier. Its wonderful!
I’m in my sixties now, and don’t give a fat rat’s a*s what anyone thinks about me. I’m going to enjoy my freedom from that burden.
Load More Replies...Remembering back to my 20s, I wouldn't want to relive those years, per se. But I do miss having that feeling that my life is just starting and I had all the ambition in the world. Now, I barely have the energy for my hobbies. I need to carve out a whole day to make room to do anything so there's room for cooking, tidying up and anything else that needs doing, ,including a much needed nap, before I start anything else.
So true!! I am 48 and trust me... I don't care what anyone thinks anymore. I do what I want and live how I want and I am soooooooooooo much happier!
I care what everyone I encounter thinks of me to one degree or another. For random strangers, I care enough to be polite and pleasant unless the circumstances dictate otherwise. For the people I know better, the amount I care what they think of me is directly proportional to the amount I care about them.
Load More Replies...Not sure if self-assuredness has anything to do with it, but by your late 60's - early 70's, you stop caring about what others think altogether. It's so amazingly freeing.
By your 40s, you’re out of f***s to give and the rest of the world can kick rocks
I'm the opposite. My 20's were fun and carefree, yet I was hit with the unexpected and unbelievable by those who I thought closest. Now I second guess almost all interactions wondering if that person will react in a bad way or throw some crazy repercussions my way, because that's what's always happened. I've become happy at home but not in my mind.. from these comments I look forward to my "no craps given 40's!"
And by the age of 60 you consciously go out of your way to make people dislike you. 🙃
Well that’s not true. I just do what I want, and the dislike comes naturally. 😁
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**You have more control over your mindset than you might think.**
Even when external circumstances are difficult, you always have some degree of control over how you choose to respond. Practices like mindfulness, positive reframing, or simply choosing to pause before reacting can significantly shift your perspective and well-being. It’s empowering to know that you can steer your mindset, even in challenging times.
My work can be hella stressful, very overwhelming. Everyone at work was reminding me there will always be work to do. Just take it easy, relax and do the best you can. So, I've been just going a normal pace. Not too speedy. Now the managers are complaining I'm too slow. (They were ones who were also telling me to chill before.) I just ignore their gripe and continue working the best I can. My mental health is improving a bit.
When my brain grinds around and around in the same worried angry frustrated thoughts, I trick it and start singing a favorite song silently in my head. Anytime my brain goes back to that grind, I pull out the song and I do it again and again until I forget to go back to the grind. It's like magic.
I suffer chronic depression and whilst these techniques won't cure my depression they really do make it a small bit more manageable.
If you are angry, eat something. If you are sad, try to sleep. If you're anxious, go outside for a walk. Of course this is not going to magically cure an actual mental illness, but it can help with regular mood swings
Sounds like I need to get a gyro and walk for awhile while simultaneously sleeping.
Load More Replies...When you think about the times in your life you've been embarrassed, you're probably the only person in the world that remembers it and thinks about it.
Except for that time that Sue drove off from the gas station with the pump nozzle yanked off its hose and stuck in her tank. That was memorable, Sue
HEY! I never did that! I really never have done this, but have to comment for obvious reasons. LOL
Load More Replies...Yeah, I don't know about that. At a class reunion I saw a very lovely woman for the first time in many years, but the first thing I thought was: oh, she pooped her pants in fourth grade.
The only people whose opinion I cared about are all dead. So long, embarrassment.
Well, I had a " You go first. No, you go first" moment with a self driving car, during rush hour. It backed up traffic and everyone was watching because it was so strange.
You are a mosaic of everything and everyone you've ever loved.
mtrbiknut:
I once read that we are "The sum of our education, our upbringing, and our experiences."
And your genetics, a lot of research I've read about suggests that much more of our base personality comes from our Genes than we like to think.
Well, the one affects the other. Nurture has an effect on nature, and vice-versa. Read up on epigenetics and you’ll see the answer to the nature-nurture debate.
Load More Replies...Most people also reflect others they had no emotional attachment to at all, positive or negative. I didn't love my Algebra teacher, but his influence showed every day I taught math.
And the actions we take are based on how we see the future. For example, if we "know" that hot guy is going to reject us, we may not ever talk to him and if we do we'll be looking for the rejection.
Centralia, PA — the site of the long-burning underground fire — has been reclaimed by nature. I was there several years ago as a last-minute decision on the way to somewhere else, and was interested to see the Silent-Hill-style landscape and the big stretches of graffiti. It’s not there anymore. It’s big beautiful plants and trees.
If you know what you’re looking for, you can figure out where parts of individual houses are based on the pipes that remain, but that’s largely it. It was so comforting to be there, in a weird way. .
This is what's been happening in Chernobyl too, at least until the war. Abandoned places get taken over by nature quickly.
Animals left behind in Chernobyl are thriving, according to those scientists who are monitoring them.
Load More Replies...The underground fire is still burning, and in 2006 it was reported that it is expected to do so for another 250 years. Apparently, the ground remains unstable and dangerous toxic fumes could erupt from the ground at any time. It appears the fire was caused by an intentional controlled burning of residential trash in an abandoned strip pit (surface mine). -- Pennsylvania DEP
I’ll never forget seeing Centralia as it was almost 30 years after the fact while I was up that way for a family reunion! Little me was impressed and concerned.
Crime rates have continuously gone down year after year after year, objectively the world is a safer place than it was (for crime anyways) years ago the news just talks about it more now.
They have 24 hours of screen time to fill and some days there isn't enough. So they start literally making things up. Actual News is stuff that happened and things people say. CNN, Fox "News" and the rest have been spending more and more time on "Editorial" News over the last two decades. Opinion pieces, talking heads. It's all garbage to fill airtime and make money.
I agree. I'm old enough to remember when the news was just the news. Now, it's talking heads delivering their opinion on said news.
Load More Replies...If it bleeds, it leads. Also, if you're a politician only after power, you use examples of crime to scare people into voting for you.
I'm curious about the source of this data. I hope it's true, but sure doesn't feel that way.
There is no source for this data, so that is a clue.
Load More Replies...Being a migrant? Being poor? Being homeless? Those are all crimes these days.
Load More Replies...Hold your horses, Buddy. Trump has repeatedly told us that undocumented immigrants are vicious, violent killers and d**g dealers. Are you saying he's talking out of his butt?
Humans have a natural ability to adapt to almost any situation, so no matter what happens, you’ll find a way to cope.
The rise in the rate of people ending their own lives would not seem to coincide with this.
I think this a generalisation, not every human will endure everything, there are some that will endure more than most, and there are some which will not endure even a small hardship.
Load More Replies...The Donner Party "found a way to cope". I hope things don't get that bad.
It’s actually pretty rare for bats to have rabies. They’re terrible hosts for the disease. That being said, a bat that’s grounded etc is definitely sick, so it’s best not to touch it, just in case.
Generally speaking, it's best not to touch any animal you're not familiar with.
Also don't touch humans you're not familiar with. I wish I was joking
Load More Replies...Don't touch it with bare hands. Get a pot holder or towel, place the batty carefully in a box, Google your nearest wild animal rehab, and take it there. Bats eat millions of mosquitoes and other bugs. They're essential to our environment. And they're also adorable.
I've read that only about 1% of bats carry the disease. Never, ever handle any animal that is behaving abnormally or appears to be sick unless you have long-sleeve, bite-proof gloves. I did some wildlife rehab, so I've handled bats and other creatures safely.
The first part is true, but the second part is not. Bats are excellent (often called reservoir) hosts for quite a few virulent zoonotic diseases like rabies, ebola, SARS, etc. So, while one might not be rabies+, it is possible they might be carrying another virus.
Something like 130,000 people escape from extreme poverty every single day.
must be nice. i'm not in *extreme* poverty, but my parents and i are on extremely fixed income that only changes when the government adjusts it slightly for the cost of living. none of us can work, so there are very limited options to make additional money.
There is always someone out there who loves you. Someone who notices your presence, and finds it comforting. Someone who thinks about how you made an impact on their lives. Someone who anticipates to hear your voice again. There's always someone. Things will be better buddy, I promise.
No, not always. There are some people that are utterly alone in the world.
I understand your point. But an example of how it is also true are post like the one here. OP dosnt know me, but I feel seen. And I feel their love. And this isnt even a great example. But I belive in it, because I am it. I love, and I belive in love. This includes the most lonely person out there, even if they dont know me or feel my affection.
Load More Replies...My daughter is always excited to greet me when I come home. It's such a nice feeling to come home to. I'm just as happy to see that bright, warm smile.
You shouldn't make promises that aren't true. This is something you tell someone to make them feel better. Like I said earlier, all my friends are dead. There's no one left who gives a hoot if I live or die. It's okay. I'm alright with my truth.
There’s a lot of good government agencies trying to make things better. I work for a wastewater treatment plant that aims to do better than current guidelines and has been an industry leader in reducing emissions and protecting the environment. We’re among 60 of 20,000 agencies who have had 26 perfect years of protections. A lot of us want to make this world better and got into government to make things better.
I guess this is 100% dependent on what country you're talking about. Because at the same time, there's a lot of countries not doing anything like that.
While a small, bitter man is threatening to dismantle as much as possible, and is selecting people to help him do it.
Load More Replies...My mom was with DEQ for over 20 years and specialized in stormwater and wastewater. DEQ was severely defunded during the Bush years and she finally took early retirement after seeing the way things were going downhill.
I am so lucky I live in an awesome town that has so many programs to help out the environment!
Everything written in this post is moot because it was posted prior to 11.05.2024. In case anyone hasn't kept up with the news, Trump & Crew intend to decimate all these "excessive, wasteful" agencies. So, put your head between your knees and brace for impact.
Believe it. I worked for government for years and we always tried to improve things for the "customer" (ie the public).
Load More Replies...Then how do you explain the Clean Air Act that was undone by legalizing pot ? You can't go ANYWHERE in public without the stench of that foul-smelling stuff. The other day, a Walmart driver in a new car delivered groceries and they stunk up my house for an hour.
No no no! ALL governments are corrupt! ALL politicians are Corrupt!!
You’ve already survived 100% of your bad days.
My husband loves when people say this, because it's technically not true for him. When he was 22, he got into a really bad car accident and was clinically dead for about a minute. So he has not survived all of his bad days. Not entirely.
Are you a seer? A prophet? Or just a moron who buys into insipid inspiration quotes? If I'm not fortunate enough to get creamed by a bus within the next couple of years, I'll die a slow painful lung cancer death. So, whoever you are, kiss my butt.
Penguins have lifelong mates and share childcare responsibilities.
Only wolfes have been found to be 100% loyal, even when it means no pups. Et needed to add "wolfes" 😂 edited again because Im always re-learning forgotten spelling 😂
Load More Replies...I dunno what about the one who ended up in Australia a few days back. That one clearly needed a break from their spouse.
Some find each other again the next year, some don't - at least with Emperor Penguins.
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A single teaspoon of honey represents the life’s work of 12 bees.
Can I ask what you mean by raw honey? Isn't all honey raw or do some places pasteurise it that I'm not familiar with?
Load More Replies...They produce excess honey, and when the excess - and only the excess, a proper apiarist will not take any more than that - is removed, we replace it with new comb for more honey or brood. The bees are kept happy and safe, we get the extra honey. A symbiotic relationship that has existed for over 12,000 years.
Figures on this are HUGELY misleading. An average hive contains around 40K bees at it's height. It will produce around 11kg of surplus honey plus the 11kg (average) that they need. That's a total of 22kg, which equates to around half a gram per bee. One teaspoon is 7 grams so that's 14 bees. Sound almost right, right? No! There are 3 types of bee in a hive, Queens, Drones, and workers. Workers make up around 80-90% of the population. Workers are broken down into 13 jobs; Only around 50% will ever actually go out foraging, but they will only do so at the right maturity, so not all at once (around 1/3 are foraging at any given time). Taking the higher estimate of 90% that's 36K workers and 18k foragers. That equates to 1g per bee, a total of 7 bees for a teaspoon. But I hear you cry 'At the lower 80% estimate it's ~11 bees', and you're right. But that's the total for the whole summer (13wks), and workers only live ~6 wks (in summer), and only forage for 2-3wks, so... it's up to 4 times as many!
Explains why so much "honey" from the grocery store is diluted with HFCS.
There are too many variables to make that statement. Worker bees who are hatched in the spring work much harder, and live shorter lives, than those hatched in the fall. Those can live for months because they are much less active in cold weather. Queens can live for several years. Most drones live from early spring until fall, which is when the worker bees push them out of the hive to starve or freeze.
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Heart attacks seldom come out of the blue and strike without prior notice. There are almost always tellable signs in advance, listen to your body and get checked out in doubt.
For women it can be as subtile as a ringing or sounds of waterfalls in your ear, or a pain in the jaw. We dont typically have the "chestpain down one arm" that has been raised as the "norm"
That scares me, because I'm a woman and sometimes get those very two symptoms you described due to sinus pressure and allergies.
Load More Replies...My two younger brothers each died of congestive heart failures. No advance warnings. One was even in hospital for a broken hip when he died and was constantly monitored. I hope to go the same way.
If you have a healthcare provider who will actually listen to you and not type away on a keyboard.
Your survival instincts will kick in in ways that you never even imagined
I was road cycling, and I’m fairly experienced on the roads, but not any serious incidents. there was a car coming up to a stop sign. He slowed down, but then just continued moving forwards. I realized, at the last second that he was 100% running the stop sign and I was *going* to get hit. There was no way around it, I’m getting hit
To this day, I don’t actually know what I did in that last millisecond second to avoid being seriously injured. The car hit me, but I managed to do something to alleviate impact
I think about incidents like that and I am amazed that I am a dope in my everyday life yet there is a part of my brain that activates in situations like that.
Our brains have developed instincts that have developed from millions of years of evolution and been passed down from pre-human ancestors. People joke about the "monkey brain" or "lizard brain," but those instincts are very real. Our subconscious minds are far more aware of our surroundings than we give them credit for.
It's that ancient spidey tingle telling you someone is there or watching you, even if you can't see them. Or being able to focus on an unusual sound even though you are surrounded by noise.
Load More Replies...I'm missing perhaps 10 to 15 seconds of my life from an incident a bit like that. Decades later it's absolutely, completely gone. Not even the vaguest clue what happened during that time, other than being reasonably certain that it hurt like hell.
I am usually a ditherer when it comes to making decisions, especially if there are other people in the same situation. But not, it turns out, if it's life or death. I get bossy and I make quick decisions. Depending on who I'm with...that's either a good thing or the worst thing eveer.
One night coming home from a late shift, I actually heard a voice in my head yelling, get off the freeway, so I took a frontage road. Around the corner, two cars were on fire with fire trucks and a helicopter standing by. I didn't hear or see any of this before I heard the voice, and that stretch of road was usually deserted at 0100. I called it my guardian angel; you call it whatever.
I've crashed my bike multiple times where I was sure I was going to be badly hurt and somehow ended up being perfectly fine or just getting a little scrape. I once did a perfect front flip and landed on my a*s and slid down the ramp when my brain was sure I'd be needing an ambulance.
Statistically, flying is safer than driving.
Depends on how you do the calculation. If you figure deaths per hour traveled, flying is safer. If you do it by miles traveled, driving is safer. And if you calculate by deaths per crash, driving is incredibly safer.
When you drive you're Large and In Charge, don't have to worry about liquid limits, don't have to take off your shoes or surrender cuticle scissors, can leave when you please. Flying is getting to be more and more unpleasant.
Load More Replies...Car crash - unlikely to die - you are already on the ground. Plane / helicopter crash - all the best - it’s a long way to the ground.
Statistically, no. That just a under a narrow lence of miles traveled pr death or smt. The effect of the aviation buisness, with all its polution, where it pollutes, how it increases our effort to extract more "pure" pollutions and then have to get rid of the waste of that procedure,,, all have a much higher negative effect on the total, than cars can ever have https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2015/09/evolving-climate-math-of-flying-vs-driving/
Can you provide a credible source for what you’re claiming?
Load More Replies...Some birds can sleep while flying.
Not just birds. Asymmetrical sleep or unihemispheric slow-wave sleep (USWS) has been found in birds, dolphins, whales, fur seals, and sea lions. They have the ability to keep one hemisphere awake while the other side sleeps. This keeps water mammals from drowning.
Dolphins can sleep half their brain at a time (it's to literally "keep an eye out" for predators).
Tigers have antiseptic saliva.
Good news! No infection. Bad news! The big kitty probably wants dinner.
Load More Replies...So do all the mothers through the centuries who used spit on their fingers to wash their kid's messy face in public.
Regarding Microplastics: this is not the first time this has happened.
The reason we have coal deep below the ground today is because for millions of years nothing existed to decompose trees. They just built up and up and up in ever deeper layers. Eventually something evolved to fill that niche, and today we have termites and fungus and wood eating bacteria, dozens of ways trees can be broken down by the natural world.
The same will happen with plastics. It will go away, in time. .
and the other species being destroyed by our impact on the earth
Load More Replies...That's a very questionable claim being made by someone who has no idea how chemistry works. Plastics are so durable because they are hydrophobic. They don't dissolve in water. ALL BIOLOGICAL LIFE, is based on water as a universal solvent. If it can't be absorbed through the cell membrane then it's not useful as an energy source.
Except a bacterium that can break down PETs has already discovered (Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6) almost a decade ago.
Load More Replies...Future geologists might be confused as to why we dug up all that stored carbon only to spread it out over the planets surface.
imagines future generations harvesting plasticoal and wondering what they will do once that runs out...
That is by no means guaranteed. The millions of years of evolution that came between plants and fungi also developed all of the animal kingdom; there is no reason to assume that life is still evolving on the same scale, or even if it is that something will develop to fill a specific niche just because t's there.
This is insanely optimistic and / or naive. Fallen trees didn’t harm their environment, they were just part of it. Microplastics have accelerated in quantity over a very short space of time (compared to the planet) and are doing damage to massive swathes of organisms along the way, those organisms can’t adapt or evolve quickly enough to deal with the damage, they’ll die out before they have been through enough generations to adapt. Good luck earth!
When you sleep your brain is still working process and sort through your memories.
Isn't this basically what the REM cycle is and what causes dreams?
I personally think dreams are the way our brains purge all the useless information they've gathered. That's why we can't remember them for very long.
But we learned it one day. Today is that day for someone else. Not everything is for "us" ❤️
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The longest living species is a jellyfish that can be biologically immortal.
NOT SPECIES. ANIMAL species. There are plenty of microorganisms what reproduce by binary division that have been around longer.
80% of all IRS audits result in a refund.
I got a letter from the IRS that I was being audited. They said I forgot to declare some income. I looked into it, and I did, but I also didn't declare the taxes I had paid on that income. When I reworked my taxes, my refund should have been a few hundred more. I sent in the paperwork explaining things, and they sent back a letter saying the case was closed. I figured I just beat the IRS, so I wasn't willing to poke the bear and ask for the extra money.
If you don't live in the US you would not usually need to be audited by the IRS.
Load More Replies...If 99% of people think you’re unattractive, there are still roughly 70 million people who think you’re attractive.
But they are in your area according to those emails. ;)
Load More Replies...No, the ones who find you unattractive are the ones you turn down. Then you are fat and ugly. And possibly a wh0re for some dumb reason.
dude. for starters, anyone can turn someone down for any reason, not just something shallow like looks. and secondly, why are you being rude? go breathe some fresh air, pet a dog, and stop being awful.
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Below are global facts that paint a very different picture of our world than the doom scrolling.
In 1930 90% of the worlds population were living in abject poverty (less than $2 a day adjusted for inflation). Today only 10% of the worlds population live in abject poverty. The economic activity of the wealthy and middle class in developed nations are globally fixing the problem.
In 1950, the average life expectancy at birth was only 48.5 years. In 2019, it was 72.8 years. That’s an increase of 50 percent.
Out of every 1,000 live births in 1950, 20.6 children died before their fifth birthday. That number was only 2.7 in 2019. That’s a reduction of 87 percent.
Between 1950 and 2018, the average income per person rose from $3,296 to $15,138. That’s an inflation adjusted increase of 359 percent.
Between 1961 and 2013, the average food supply per person per day rose from 2,191 calorie to 2,885 calories. That’s an increase of 31.7 percent.
In 1950, the length of schooling that a person could typically expect to receive was 2.59 years. In 2017, it was 8 years. That’s a 209 percent increase.
The world’s democratic score rose from an average of 5.31 out of 10 in 1950 to an average of 7.21 out of 10 in 2017. That’s a 35.8 percent increase.
"Out of every 1,000 live births in 1950, 20.6 children died before their fifth birthday. That number was only 2.7 in 2019. That’s a reduction of 87 percent." THANK YOU VACCINES!
Vaccines, nutrition, medical advancements, drop in abject poverty rates.
Load More Replies...I actually checked, and most of the data is real, except for chidren mortality. Children mortality is in fact way higher than stated 2.7. In EU it is 3.3, in USA it is over 7, in less developed countries it can reach 100 and more. According to UNICEF data, under 5 mortality rate in 2019 was 39 per 1000 live births - thats a world average.
Load More Replies...The poverty thing is good and all, but I think the problem is that while bottom is rising, it's rising much slower than the top end and I feel people rarely bring that up.
Anyone think they can explain the average income? $15,138 is a 359% increase over $3296, period. If that's adjusted for inflation it means that average income in 2018 was exactly what it was in 1950.
But you're not taking into consideration that the grotesque number of people on the planet is causing environmental devastation and smaller tracts of habitable land to live on. It will get worse, and much sooner than many expect.
experts suggest a push to urban centers to deal with the habitable land issue, combined with climate change eventually rendering the area around the equator uninhabitable by humans because of extreme heat. but the number of people on the planet isn't the real issue, it's the capitalistic greed that powers deforestation, mining, inefficient practices across all sorts of industries, and climate change itself. if humanity switched entirely to solar tomorrow, and stopped fighting wars and allowing a small group of people to squat on more wealth than they could hope to spend in 100 lifetimes, it would go a long way to ensure humanity's survival, and equal out conditions for people across the board.
Load More Replies...There's a good book called Factfulness that makes the same argument and in a compelling way. It's written by a doctor who speaks to the EU and UN and so on. His point is that most people's world view of global need is based on stats from the 1960s, like the % of children world wide who are vaccinated. The theme is that the world is actually better than you worry it is. I found it a comforting book during the first Trump reign.
We were closer to world peace in 2008 than ever before in history. Since then, there has been a increase in conflicts, but a reduction in international conflicts.
god, I'm such a negative nancy. I feel like there's probably a negative counter-argument to every single one of these.
That most growth is done in and around relationships.
Aka
You have to experience in order to grow.
And I wish more people knew this so that they would give others more chances over writing them off right away (all within reason of course).
You don't need other people in order to have experiences. You only need to walk around the planet with your mind awake and engaged.
I agree with you. We call it situational awareness.
Load More Replies...I don't disagree with the learning bit, but the rest is nonsense.
Relationship can be any kind of relationship - love, friends, family, acquaintances. Humans are social animals, social interaction and social groups is proven to be a personal growth driver.
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Humans and bananas share about 60% of the same DNA.
Yeah we share about the same with ALL Eukaryotic organisms. You can sat the same thing about ants and walnuts and slime mold. Most DNA codes for proteins and all multicellular organisms are made of the same proteins.
Of course, there are some people who are a much higher percentage of slime mold than walnuts.
Load More Replies...Everything is made of energy, energy can’t be created or destroyed.
Not that I can push my wishes, but if things go according to plan, I'll be incinerated after being dissected by medical students. I like that decomposing bodies return to the soil, even if they're in coffins, they eventually leak out. And so will the embalming fluid, a soil contaminant. I fully understand why it's used, and cremation's effects on the environment is pretty nasty so it doesn't make that method any more viable. We pollute the planet in life and death.
No, they mean energy. In the beginning was energy, some of it was converted into matter. That's kinda the crux of E=MCsquared
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You are the product of 3.7 billion years of evolution. Life is resilient!
OK as long as it is understood that humans aren't the "target" of evolution. It's about survival, so nematodes are just as much the "product" of evolution
Thankfully, because if humans were the target,... heck, that's too pathetic to contemplate.
Load More Replies...Evolution's only point is to adapt to survive changing conditions. And it's quite random. Humans aren't the pinnacle of evolution; we've just adapted well. Horseshoe crabs could be said to be since they haven't needed to adapt for millions of years. Go, little crabs, go!
In the words of George Carlin: "The planet is FINE! We're F#@(^". For real, once all the humans are gone. And we ARE going away someday. The planet will be totally fine without us.
Until the sun goes through its inevitable life cycle and expands outward, boiling our oceans and blasting the atmosphere away
Load More Replies...Reassuring statements mixed with animal facts. Not a bad article, keeps you from slipping into platitude miasma when reading about tiger saliva.
One of the most oddly comforting things I've heard is: at some point in your adult life, someone has masturbated while thinking of you.
When I'm up in the spirit world and all knowledge is offered to me, I want to know all of the people who crushed on me.
Load More Replies...I think that too many of these pontifications are figments of an imagination.
Reassuring statements mixed with animal facts. Not a bad article, keeps you from slipping into platitude miasma when reading about tiger saliva.
One of the most oddly comforting things I've heard is: at some point in your adult life, someone has masturbated while thinking of you.
When I'm up in the spirit world and all knowledge is offered to me, I want to know all of the people who crushed on me.
Load More Replies...I think that too many of these pontifications are figments of an imagination.
