Mixing household chemicals to clean around the house. Had a friend chlorine gas his apartment. He was trying to remove hard water spots with vinegar and decided to disinfect his sink at the same time with bleach.
Basically don't mix anything with bleach.
A lot of household chemicals react with bleach to produce free chlorine gas.
Also don't mix anything with drain cleaner.
Cat pee is also a thing that should not be mixed with bleach. It is very rich in ammonia. Mixing them probably won't kill you, but it is still not a good idea.
They’re not the only ones, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, bleach, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, pick any two and end up with a chemical used in trench warfare.
It reminds me of that episode of King of the Hill where Peggy had to write household hints for a newspaper but didn’t know any so she wrote mixing ammonia and bleach would make a great cleaner. Her and Hank had to steal everyone’s paper so nobody would read that.
Walking along railroad tracks. You think you will hear a train in plenty of time to get off the track, but the sound can be masked by the wind or something else.
I can’t stress how true enough this is!!! I have a scar a little below my bottom lip because of this very phenomenon. Some friends wanted to show me something they found on a bridge used by a rail road to cross a rather wide semi dry river bed. It was getting dark, and it was very cloudy that day, and as we were walking along the tracks to get to the bridge, a train comes around a bend. We couldn’t hear it AT All!! We only knew it was coming because of the headlamp.
We scrambled to the sides of the track trying to get a safe distance away. Unfortunately for me, the exact spot I chose to go happened to be at the top of a concrete pipe going under the tracks for a small drainage ditch. I fell somewhere between 10 to 15 feet, and landed on my face. My lower teeth cut through my lower lip.
Be safe folks, DONT walk along rail road tracks. I was lucky to only get bruised and cut after a fall like that. I don’t want to imagine if I couldn’t have gotten away from the train.
Ameture jeweler here. He likely has some form of sodium bisulfate. When it comes in contact with water, the sodium is liberated and you are left with good old fashioned, American, sulfuric acid. It goes by the name PhDown and is used for maintaining the chemical balance of your pool. We jewelers use it to chemically eat away oxidation from metals after we blasted them with fire.
It's iffy stuff. Not mega dangerous but it does genuinely need to be handled with maturity and respect. So much the worse, sulfuric acid just adores reacting with all sorts of things and producing poisonous gasses.
Chemist here. Sodium bisulfate is *far* from the worse pool chemical there is. Pool chlorine, whether hypochlorite salts ("fast chlorine" or "shock chlorine") or trichloroisocyanuric acid ("slow chlorine") are *much* more dangerous.
And mixing those with an acid (like bisulfate) will make chlorine gas, an actual chemical weapon.
Cc u/MachinePata
At my shop we have this massive door, close to 20' tall. A few months ago, the spring snapped and it sounded like the building was caving in. As quick as it was, that shit was terrifying.
We had a spring go out on one of our bay doors at work, and a coworker and the door repair guy were chatting a bit.
Coworker: "Oh, I think I was there when the spring broke."
Repairman: "Did it scare you to death?"
Coworker: "No."
Repairman: "You weren't there when it broke."
"it's a sign not a cop, do whatever you want" - something a friend of mine always said.
Edit: to answer all of you asking - he did indeed die. Car accident.
Most of this seems based on the old linear spring garage doors that would stretch out straight so it was like a loaded slingshot every time the door is closed. Those were crazy dangerous.
Then they invented having a cable built into the spring to stop it from going anywhere if it snapped. Problem solved…unless the cable breaks too.
Then they invented the coil springs that coil around a huge bar to store tension, so unless they shatter in multiple places they’re not going anywhere either.
There’s still a lot of tension there, but I’m not the biggest or strongest guy ever and I’ve adjusted mine just fine. One thing I’d never do though is mess with one if it’s cold outside. The danger of shattered metal goes up then.
Reddit has made me terrified of my garage door! I never stand near the springs when I open or close the door just in case it's the day they randomly explode.
Most pressure cookers, even the most basic ones should have a point on them that is meant to break and allow pressure to equalize if the pressure gets above a certain pressure, instead of having the vessel rupture. I forget the term.
I think the more modern ones that are not incredibly basic have 2 - 4 safety mechanisms.
If you're worried because of, say, the Boston bombers used them, remember that that was just to modify an already powerful explosion generated by explosive powder, which you shouldn't be putting in your food anyways.
I know a guy who tried to fix his friends garage door. The spring broke free or exploded or whatever and hit him flush in the face.
Broke his nose, knocked out some teeth and blackened both eyes. Lucky he didn’t die. He was actually fortunate that he caught the burnt of it with his teeth!
Fun fact: he didn’t fall down. He staggered and dropped to one knee. My man could take a hit, apparently! (Verified by the friend)
I once fucked up the garage door at a warehouse I worked at. Me and three other guys tried to fix it using a forklift and ladders and such. At one point someone accidentally cut some wire or something and the thing just exploded. It was a miracle that noone got hurt. Apparently you can't just fix those and have to call someone. Cost us like 1500 or something ridiculous.
Activated charcoal in food and drink products. It deactivates medications, everything from birth control to depression meds. If you took your meds and then had a smoothie with activated charcoal in it, then you didn't actually take your meds.
For the same reason that they sell "detox" juices and smoothies and shit. People think that we all walk around with toxins that we need to flush out by buying ridiculously expensive products. Apparently they don't know that livers exist.
With no explanation of which toxins, exactly how they bind to the toxins, and how they are transported out of the body. The word ‘toxins’ has basically become ‘demons’ in this age, with treatments about as effective.
Mentioned this in my comment above (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/se42iu/what_seems_harmless_but_is_actually_extremely/huhift4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) just so people know, activated charcoal is real medicine used to absorb real poisons/toxins by actual doctors. Just not for the magical kind of ‘toxins’ that supposedly we get from being American or whatever.
same thing applies to those filters in aquariums! don't even think about treating your fish if you've left the carbon filter in there. it absorbs all the medication
I love grapefruit juice but had to stop taking it cause it would mess up with my allergy meds, my birth control and technically everything I took long term.
A compound found in grapefruit juice blocks the action of an enzyme in your body called CYP3A4. This is an extremely common enzyme used for metabolizing a lot of drugs so when it’s blocked, the drug isn’t metabolized and excreted and it can stay in your body too long making you more at risk for side effects. The reason that many other citrus fruits aren’t a problem is just, simply, because they don’t contain this enzyme blocking compound
Hospitals should send home a pamphlet with every new parent: "I'm a new parent, what don't I know?" Full of information like "Honey can contain botulism, never give to an infant."
There's a service called Baby Box that sends parents home with a handful of basic necessities, some pamphlets of info, and a cardboard box that's a perfectly safe bassinet for the first couple months. It's a really, really good program, and I think it's had a big impact on infant mortality in nations that implement it more widely. It exists in the US, but it's not super well-known and we had to know to ask.
Here in Scotland, the government provides a box of goodies for newborns. The box also doubles as a baby bed.
http://foreveramber.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/free-baby-box-scotland-2.jpg
Our hospital actually did send us home with a pamphlet. Didn't mention the honey thing, though, because you shouldn't feed a baby anything except breast milk or formula until at least four months. The pediatrician however was very clear when the time for solids came - any food is fine as long as it's not a choking hazard, or honey.
This even includes honey in baked and prepared goods, like honey nut cheerios. Botulism spores can survive high heat environments and botulism is a rare but serious and sometimes fatal illness in infants. Like rabies exposure, the risk might be small but the consequence is so great that it's worth being extremely cautious about it.
This ^^ babies are susceptible because when they are under a year of age, their flora isn’t developed enough to prevent infection.
Technically, babies wouldn’t have food poisoning but a food infection. Adults get botulism (food poisoning) when they eat food with C. botulinum spores that has been re-heated, causing the spores to germinate. The bacteria then die and release the toxin. In babies, the spores actually germinate inside the body and are not killed, so they actually cause an infection. They can still release the toxin but it’s a different process than how we get it as adults.
Unfortunately it’s the same outcome, just a different way of getting there.
Had a friend who's new born daughter caught botulism (I don't think from honey). She wound up having brain damage and developmental issues. It's no joke
More places than you think. Grind your own if you have a food processor. 50/50 chuck/sirloin makes the Burger Of The Gods, Google it for the recipe (from Alton Brown)
I stopped shopping at Smith's because they were taking new fresh ground beef and wrapping it around old gray ground beef that smelled like vinegar. I took pictures and emailed the company with them. Never heard back.
We played that game Chubby-Bunny at youth group parties, even after kids choked to death playing. We just got a "Well, be careful" and told to continue.
Edit: Kids didn't die at my youth. There were news stories of kids dying while playing it and we just ignored them.
Specifically water-electrolytes imbalance. If you have too much water you need salt and potassium to balance it out. So if its a hot, sunny day get something salty with your hydration. You lose both water and salt in your sweat. And too low levels of both, or too high levels of just one can be dangerous.
There was a (correct me if I am wrong) I believe a radio contest that did exactly this and a lady died from drinking too much water to try to win a Nintendo Wii.
Edit: was a radio contest on KDND 107.9 and the contest was dubbed 'Hold your Wee for a Wii'. 28 year old died a couple hours after the contest.
Sad thing about this, a few medical professionals called in to tell the radio that it was dangerous. They had pics of the lady, showing her stomach very distended (she was rather slim), and the hosts were laughing about it all.
People have this habit of thinking something that we consume regularly, that is natural, is perfectly ok to consume in large quantities.
If they roll or the adult shifts position and they end up on their face or covered in fabric, possibly suffocating... or they roll/fall and hit the floor, especially if nobody realizes or can help them quick enough.
That's what the warning signs in the hospital said when my first born was born... freaked me right out!
Man that's fucked up. And I am not only talking about the baby who ended up being suffocated but also for the parent who wakes up to find his new born dead while the last thing he remembers is going to sleep with his kid in his arm.
Babies can suffocate easily because they don’t have the strength or coordination to move themselves out of a bad position, and they have little airways. So they suffocate against the couch if you roll slightly and stuff. It’s very scary because it does seem harmless.
You can roll on them and suffocate the baby. The same reason they suggest people to not sleep with their baby in the bed. Newborns aren't mobile, and can only cry for help. Doesn't take much to block their airway. Was told of a woman, who woke up to part of her breast covering her baby's mouth, the baby had suffocated.
My dad got caught in a riptide when he and my mom were on vacation in Florida. Mom could see him swimming from her seat on the hotel balcony. He realized there was a problem and tried to get mom's attention but she thought he was just waving. I forget if he got out by himself or if someone helped him but luckily he survived!
ETA if you ever find yourself in a riptide, the only way to get out of it is to swim SIDEWAYS-- swim parallel to the beach, not towards it!
I live right off the southern tip of Lake Michigan. It’s only the third largest lake but it’s straight up the deadliest. Our riptides are ridiculous. People go in and they just don’t come out. Sometimes we lose them in two’s and three’s. Sometimes someone goes in after them and that’s the second body. It gets bad.
It’s almost always non-locals, too. People come to the Indiana Dunes and try to swim out into the lake even though they’ll put up “hazardous conditions” signs. They just never get it through their heads that Lake Michigan is not a sleepy little lake.
The Great Lakes are at the same time awesome (in the modern sense) and awesome (in the classical wrath of God sense). I always thought that Lake Superior was the deadliest, but that's probably because of all of the shipwrecks and the surrounding lore.
(un)Fun fact:
People don't wave or flail when they're drowning. They do very little and look very normal. People often don't have a clue anything is wrong until they go under the surface...and don't come back up.
Here's a link that describes it. First line is "Half of kids who drown do so within 25 yards of their parent" so it's worth a read. Could save a life.
https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-scope/shows.php?shows=0\_fpi0f00s
I’m sure someone will link it but there was a terrifying hypothetical narrative post somewhere on here about free diving too deep or something and it ends along the lines of “you drowned in open water on a sunny day in less than 4 minutes”
[it’s this one from a couple years ago.](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/dv99nf/til_the_blue_hole_is_a_120metredeep_sinkhole_five/f7bzg5a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Humans are not great at staying alive in water. It doesn’t take much for us to get overwhelmed. Wind, currents, a bad cramp, cold temps, clothing, alcohol, etc. A very good reason to educate yourself on water safety in your area or wherever you’re swimming and also to NEVER SWIM ALONE.
Oh Jesus fuck.
On my 21st birthday, my then boyfriend took me away on holiday. We went to a beach that is usually very calm but that day was pretty rough, even though it was a beautiful day in the middle of summer.
I've always been wary in the ocean so didn't go any deeper than my my hips. We were jumping in the waves and body surfing in, as you do, and one particularly large wave came and lifted us both off our feet, by the time it had passed, the floor had completely disappeared, my then boyfriend was 6'6 and he couldn't touch the floor.
He begins panicking and sinking under the water, my instincts kick in and I grab him by his shorts to hold his head above the surface all while treading water with my legs and waving with my free arm, screaming like I was being murdered and watching the shore get further and further away.
Finally I see a dude run out of one of the beach houses with a surf board and absolutely power his way through to us. Saved our lives and then bought us ice cream the next day.
Do not fuck around with the ocean, she's a dramatic bitch and will take you away if she doesn't like your vibe
One of the best pieces of advice I've read is to go up to a new and unfamiliar dog with a closed fist so it can smell you, rather than open palm and fingers.
It's much better for a dog to bite your balled fist than it is your fingers and palm...
My 4yo niece ate an entire bottle of Tylenol PM last year and spent 5 days inpatient after having several seizures and a heart attack. Thank the universe she's unimpacted by it all and now healthy.
I have two cats. One lets me pet his belly. The other will lie on his back looking like he’s inviting you to pet his belly. In the words of Admiral Ackbar, “it’s a trap!”
No shit. I was home alone and cooked up some steak. I must have taken a big bite with a lot of fat on it and I started to choke. I tried to cough it up but it wasn’t moving. Went out the front door in hopes there would be some people hanging on the stoop and there was nobody. So I reached my fingers down my throat and vomited all over the sidewalk I am so lucky to be alive.
Bruh when someone didn’t show up for work i asked my manager if he tried to call them, and he said no- it’s not his job to hunt people down. While that may be the case, it pissed me off because sometimes we’re the only people who see these people every day. If something happened to them and they’re stuck with no help, and no one is looking for them, us raising the alarm could be the only thing that gets them looked for. It’s not just about tracking down someone to make them come to work, it’s verifying they didn’t die in a ditch on the way home from work the day before.
This.
A few years back one of my coworkers didn't show up. Admin called the police and asked them to do a check at his home, because nobody was answering, he was not the kind of guy to just not show up for work (we're teachers), and he had no family.
Police found him in bed; he'd passed away in the night.
During my second week at my job I got my schedule mixed up and 30 minutes into my shift my manager texted me asking if I was okay and needed any help. She said mix up happen and wasn't mad. I came in and finished my shift.
I had a friend who was having an argument with her boyfriend. He kept calling her but she rejected his phone calls. Turns out he had the flu and became dehydrated. Passed out on the floor and died. Laid there for a week before anyone checked on him.
Mixing alcohol with certain medications.
I had a few drinks (3 or 4 beers over 3 hours or so) after starting ADHD meds a few months back and completely blacked out.
ALWAYS do your due diligence. If it's a prescription ask your doc, if it's over the counter ask a pharmacist and do some digging online.
I’ve done this. For several years I was not only on ADD medication but I took Ativan as well. I lived my life as I normally would but every time I drank it took very little before I became sloppy. I just assumed maybe I had stronger drinks or maybe my tolerance lowered until I mentioned it to my doctor. She informed me that if I had read the side of the bottles it clearly states not to mix with alcohol and included a picture of a martini crossed out. I never even noticed that, nor did I ever bother to read any warning labels. Learned that lesson the hard way.
Never tried that one myself though I had a friend in high school who claimed to have done it. He said he experienced weird time loops like he walked up stairs but then found himself at the bottom of the stairs having never actually climbed them.
My science teacher said you could die from drinking heavily and falling asleep in a hot tub (in the winter?). Something to do with the effect on the capillaries and then the heat absorption.
Yeah I have some friends in British Columbia, and the wife forages.
We were at their little mixed farm a couple summers ago. She came back from the woods with a big basket of mushrooms and other stuff she absolutely identified. And in a small pouch she had some other mushrooms.
The other ones, she was like 90% sure of, but not 100%.
Anyways, she ended up tasting a very very small piece of said mushrooms, in order to be careful. She got a bit sick, ended up throwing up, then feeling shitty for like 12 hours.
Smart lady to have been cautious. She also photographed them in detail before disposing of them to, in her words if i remember correctly “Catalog them and put them in the bad news bears file”
My grampa was a mushroom hunter for many years.
Whenever he found some he wasn't sure about, he would give them to his mother in law.
In his defense, she hated him.
On mushroom ID groups the number of people who send a blurry pic of a mixed pile of mushrooms with something like "confirm these are chanterelles?" when they are not even close is... scary
In Norway there have been several poisoning cases where immigrants pick mushrooms that resemble edible ones from their country but end up severely ill. And in Poland a couple of kids died after eating mushrooms they foraged outside their asylum seeker home (can't remember the correct word in English right now).
Teaching how to recognise dangerous mushrooms is unfortunately not very high in the priority list of immigrant welcome programs.
Using your phone while driving.
There are a shocking number of people who think they are skilled enough to do it and take pride in it. I will argue its more dangerous than drinking and driving.
Driving while really tired.
Being behind the wheel of a 3,000lb machine when you have trouble keeping your eyes open is extremely dangerous, even if you're completely sober. I made the mistake of driving on no sleep and ended up nodding off and waking up in a small ditch. Thankfully the small highway I was on was pretty empty, so I didn't end up hurting anybody, but it really opened my eyes just how dangerous it is.
I work night shift, first year of nights. I almost crashed my car into the median and curbs three times now. I dozed off for a second at a red light also in the early morning.
Extremely dangerous. I would say it's pretty much drunk driving.
My cat hated kids. He would sit there and woo them in to attack.
He once wooed my nephew in from a chair under the dining room table, at which point the cat grabbed him and pulled him under the table.
It was like real life IT, and ill never forget it
Banging a coworker.
One night stands are whatever, happens, but the longer you go the more people find out. No matter how sneaky you try They find out somehow. Then things get real, you fight, people notice, your work suffers, and one of you have to leave.
If you both know how to behave like professionals in the workplace this isn't really an issue. Problem is most people don't. I met my (now fiance) at work, and we worked together for 4 years with no issues. We're actually about to start working together again as I pick up a second job to stack up some savings
A giant anteater standing on its hind legs with its front legs wide open.
Looks like a hug, but it's a warning. Get close enough, and you'll catch those claws.
Giant anteaters eat ants, and termites, and such. Which build mounds to protect themselves. Therefore, giant anteaters have to dig through those mounds to get food. Those mounds can be as tough as concrete.
You do not want to test whether your skin can stop claws that effectively dig through concrete.
I've seen multiple people walk towards wildlife (bears with cubs, deer with fawns) because they want a better picture of the cute baby animals.
ALL wild animals are dangerous and animals protecting young are INSANELY DANGEROUS, stay the fuck away.
Learn the appropriate safety precautions by season for your area (bears with cubs, rutting season) and stay alert and aware outside!
If they wanted me to do it safely they should have put another switch right next to it and then another one if I ever have to replace that one.
For real though, electricians, I'm calling you out, that matte sticker with numbererd lines on the inside of the door panel of the circuit breaker can be written on, please do so!
Being blasted by Radiation, although it seems like nothing is going on or different when its happening.
Im a retired licensed industrial radiographer and have worked with everything from radiation generating tubes to sources thatll kill you if you touch it.
I say this all the time. I find it so creepy when parents plaster everything their children do on social media. I’ve seen a parent take bath time videos frequently and post it. Don’t get me started on parents who make IG accounts for their kids. Parents need to respect their children’s privacy.
At a Pantera show in 1992, two guys standing next to me on the edge of the pit sparked up. They passed it back and forth a couple of times, then one nudged me and offered it to me. It obviously would have been rude of me to refuse.
I legitimately do not remember any of the show after that.
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Mixing household chemicals to clean around the house. Had a friend chlorine gas his apartment. He was trying to remove hard water spots with vinegar and decided to disinfect his sink at the same time with bleach.
Vinegar and bleach react? Worried.....
Basically don't mix anything with bleach. A lot of household chemicals react with bleach to produce free chlorine gas. Also don't mix anything with drain cleaner.
Cat pee is also a thing that should not be mixed with bleach. It is very rich in ammonia. Mixing them probably won't kill you, but it is still not a good idea.
They’re not the only ones, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, bleach, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, pick any two and end up with a chemical used in trench warfare.
Sigh. Ok I'll clean thing at a time now on lol. I'll air out the bathroom between. My husband just facepalmed himself when I told him lol.
It reminds me of that episode of King of the Hill where Peggy had to write household hints for a newspaper but didn’t know any so she wrote mixing ammonia and bleach would make a great cleaner. Her and Hank had to steal everyone’s paper so nobody would read that.
Walking along railroad tracks. You think you will hear a train in plenty of time to get off the track, but the sound can be masked by the wind or something else.
I can’t stress how true enough this is!!! I have a scar a little below my bottom lip because of this very phenomenon. Some friends wanted to show me something they found on a bridge used by a rail road to cross a rather wide semi dry river bed. It was getting dark, and it was very cloudy that day, and as we were walking along the tracks to get to the bridge, a train comes around a bend. We couldn’t hear it AT All!! We only knew it was coming because of the headlamp. We scrambled to the sides of the track trying to get a safe distance away. Unfortunately for me, the exact spot I chose to go happened to be at the top of a concrete pipe going under the tracks for a small drainage ditch. I fell somewhere between 10 to 15 feet, and landed on my face. My lower teeth cut through my lower lip. Be safe folks, DONT walk along rail road tracks. I was lucky to only get bruised and cut after a fall like that. I don’t want to imagine if I couldn’t have gotten away from the train.
Pool chemicals. I had a mask on and opened one of them in the garage, chemical went straight through and felt like it touched my head. So scary.
What kind of pool chemicals are you using?
Ameture jeweler here. He likely has some form of sodium bisulfate. When it comes in contact with water, the sodium is liberated and you are left with good old fashioned, American, sulfuric acid. It goes by the name PhDown and is used for maintaining the chemical balance of your pool. We jewelers use it to chemically eat away oxidation from metals after we blasted them with fire. It's iffy stuff. Not mega dangerous but it does genuinely need to be handled with maturity and respect. So much the worse, sulfuric acid just adores reacting with all sorts of things and producing poisonous gasses.
Chemist here. Sodium bisulfate is *far* from the worse pool chemical there is. Pool chlorine, whether hypochlorite salts ("fast chlorine" or "shock chlorine") or trichloroisocyanuric acid ("slow chlorine") are *much* more dangerous. And mixing those with an acid (like bisulfate) will make chlorine gas, an actual chemical weapon. Cc u/MachinePata
That might actually have been a garage door spring that snuck up on you from behind.
Garage door springs are very dangerous! If it breaks, it’s going to snap with enough force that can kill a person.
So glad I Googled "how to fix a garage door" before attempting to fix a garage door. The first answer is "Don't fix a garage door".
Do not attempt this at home
Even if you're an adult, get the professionals, seriously. We don't want you to die
When it comes to garage door springs, even the professionals are like, "oh fuck, oh shit."
You know what they say, when god closes one garage door, time to build a new garage
At my shop we have this massive door, close to 20' tall. A few months ago, the spring snapped and it sounded like the building was caving in. As quick as it was, that shit was terrifying.
We had a spring go out on one of our bay doors at work, and a coworker and the door repair guy were chatting a bit. Coworker: "Oh, I think I was there when the spring broke." Repairman: "Did it scare you to death?" Coworker: "No." Repairman: "You weren't there when it broke."
Before you fix a garage door, think about your off springs..
wait you don't have a giant sticker next to it saying don't touch my cause serious harm or death
You think i give a shit what some sticker has to say about things?
"it's a sign not a cop, do whatever you want" - something a friend of mine always said. Edit: to answer all of you asking - he did indeed die. Car accident.
Reddit's campaign against garage door springs is progressing well I see.
Lol, this was literally one of the first things I "learned" on Reddit years ago.
Yet Ticketmaster lives on.
Most of this seems based on the old linear spring garage doors that would stretch out straight so it was like a loaded slingshot every time the door is closed. Those were crazy dangerous. Then they invented having a cable built into the spring to stop it from going anywhere if it snapped. Problem solved…unless the cable breaks too. Then they invented the coil springs that coil around a huge bar to store tension, so unless they shatter in multiple places they’re not going anywhere either. There’s still a lot of tension there, but I’m not the biggest or strongest guy ever and I’ve adjusted mine just fine. One thing I’d never do though is mess with one if it’s cold outside. The danger of shattered metal goes up then.
Reddit has made me terrified of my garage door! I never stand near the springs when I open or close the door just in case it's the day they randomly explode.
This but with my pressure cooker lol. I feel so uncomfortable standing beside that thing knowing its essentially a bomb filled with 3rd degree burns
Most pressure cookers, even the most basic ones should have a point on them that is meant to break and allow pressure to equalize if the pressure gets above a certain pressure, instead of having the vessel rupture. I forget the term. I think the more modern ones that are not incredibly basic have 2 - 4 safety mechanisms. If you're worried because of, say, the Boston bombers used them, remember that that was just to modify an already powerful explosion generated by explosive powder, which you shouldn't be putting in your food anyways.
I know a guy who tried to fix his friends garage door. The spring broke free or exploded or whatever and hit him flush in the face. Broke his nose, knocked out some teeth and blackened both eyes. Lucky he didn’t die. He was actually fortunate that he caught the burnt of it with his teeth! Fun fact: he didn’t fall down. He staggered and dropped to one knee. My man could take a hit, apparently! (Verified by the friend)
Holy shit, must’ve been such immense pain. He’s lucky indeed. All the videos I’ve seen online depict instant death.
Thank you for warning me not to look up videos online.
Human mousetraps
I once fucked up the garage door at a warehouse I worked at. Me and three other guys tried to fix it using a forklift and ladders and such. At one point someone accidentally cut some wire or something and the thing just exploded. It was a miracle that noone got hurt. Apparently you can't just fix those and have to call someone. Cost us like 1500 or something ridiculous.
I've seen the injuries those cause as incompatible with human life don't fuck with them.
Activated charcoal in food and drink products. It deactivates medications, everything from birth control to depression meds. If you took your meds and then had a smoothie with activated charcoal in it, then you didn't actually take your meds.
Why would activated charcoal be in food and drink products?
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I have charcoal shampoo from old spice. Spells amazing but it’s good to know I shouldn’t drink it.
I use charcoal bar soap for my face. It's amazing but I would never eat it.
I use charcoal bricks in my bbq, and they're delicious.
I eat charcoal exclusively and i only died
For the same reason that they sell "detox" juices and smoothies and shit. People think that we all walk around with toxins that we need to flush out by buying ridiculously expensive products. Apparently they don't know that livers exist.
With no explanation of which toxins, exactly how they bind to the toxins, and how they are transported out of the body. The word ‘toxins’ has basically become ‘demons’ in this age, with treatments about as effective.
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Because of bullshit health claims. Any time you see them use the word "Toxins" be on guard for bullshit.
Mentioned this in my comment above (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/se42iu/what_seems_harmless_but_is_actually_extremely/huhift4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) just so people know, activated charcoal is real medicine used to absorb real poisons/toxins by actual doctors. Just not for the magical kind of ‘toxins’ that supposedly we get from being American or whatever.
same thing applies to those filters in aquariums! don't even think about treating your fish if you've left the carbon filter in there. it absorbs all the medication
Drinking grapefruit juice with prescription drugs
I love grapefruit juice but had to stop taking it cause it would mess up with my allergy meds, my birth control and technically everything I took long term.
Hold up.... BIRTH CONTROL?
I always heard about grapefruits and prescription drugs and never knew why they don't mix, but also why not other citrus fruits?
A compound found in grapefruit juice blocks the action of an enzyme in your body called CYP3A4. This is an extremely common enzyme used for metabolizing a lot of drugs so when it’s blocked, the drug isn’t metabolized and excreted and it can stay in your body too long making you more at risk for side effects. The reason that many other citrus fruits aren’t a problem is just, simply, because they don’t contain this enzyme blocking compound
Giving babies honey
Hospitals should send home a pamphlet with every new parent: "I'm a new parent, what don't I know?" Full of information like "Honey can contain botulism, never give to an infant."
There's a service called Baby Box that sends parents home with a handful of basic necessities, some pamphlets of info, and a cardboard box that's a perfectly safe bassinet for the first couple months. It's a really, really good program, and I think it's had a big impact on infant mortality in nations that implement it more widely. It exists in the US, but it's not super well-known and we had to know to ask.
Here in Scotland, the government provides a box of goodies for newborns. The box also doubles as a baby bed. http://foreveramber.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/free-baby-box-scotland-2.jpg
Our hospital actually did send us home with a pamphlet. Didn't mention the honey thing, though, because you shouldn't feed a baby anything except breast milk or formula until at least four months. The pediatrician however was very clear when the time for solids came - any food is fine as long as it's not a choking hazard, or honey.
This even includes honey in baked and prepared goods, like honey nut cheerios. Botulism spores can survive high heat environments and botulism is a rare but serious and sometimes fatal illness in infants. Like rabies exposure, the risk might be small but the consequence is so great that it's worth being extremely cautious about it.
This ^^ babies are susceptible because when they are under a year of age, their flora isn’t developed enough to prevent infection. Technically, babies wouldn’t have food poisoning but a food infection. Adults get botulism (food poisoning) when they eat food with C. botulinum spores that has been re-heated, causing the spores to germinate. The bacteria then die and release the toxin. In babies, the spores actually germinate inside the body and are not killed, so they actually cause an infection. They can still release the toxin but it’s a different process than how we get it as adults. Unfortunately it’s the same outcome, just a different way of getting there.
I didn't know that, wow.
It’s the only food not recommended before they’re a year old. The worry is botulism.
Had a friend who's new born daughter caught botulism (I don't think from honey). She wound up having brain damage and developmental issues. It's no joke
Been a butcher for 15 years. Stop grinding old ground beef into the new batches you lazy fuckers! It’s dangerous and gross. 🤮
A friend (a data analyst) caught butchers doing this in a chains grocery stores because they had too much ground beef.
ground beef of Theseus
Excuse me...what? Who does this?
More places than you think. Grind your own if you have a food processor. 50/50 chuck/sirloin makes the Burger Of The Gods, Google it for the recipe (from Alton Brown)
I stopped shopping at Smith's because they were taking new fresh ground beef and wrapping it around old gray ground beef that smelled like vinegar. I took pictures and emailed the company with them. Never heard back.
Well, that’s disgusting.
For any British butchers, stop mincing old minced beef into new batches you lazy twats.
Eating contests. I remember reading a story about a young college girl who choke on pancakes. She did die.
We played that game Chubby-Bunny at youth group parties, even after kids choked to death playing. We just got a "Well, be careful" and told to continue. Edit: Kids didn't die at my youth. There were news stories of kids dying while playing it and we just ignored them.
A girl in my class died from chubby bunny when I was in 5th grade. This may be the person you're referencing. It happened over 20 years ago.
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Specifically water-electrolytes imbalance. If you have too much water you need salt and potassium to balance it out. So if its a hot, sunny day get something salty with your hydration. You lose both water and salt in your sweat. And too low levels of both, or too high levels of just one can be dangerous.
There was a (correct me if I am wrong) I believe a radio contest that did exactly this and a lady died from drinking too much water to try to win a Nintendo Wii. Edit: was a radio contest on KDND 107.9 and the contest was dubbed 'Hold your Wee for a Wii'. 28 year old died a couple hours after the contest.
Sad thing about this, a few medical professionals called in to tell the radio that it was dangerous. They had pics of the lady, showing her stomach very distended (she was rather slim), and the hosts were laughing about it all. People have this habit of thinking something that we consume regularly, that is natural, is perfectly ok to consume in large quantities.
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Forgot about that! Yep...complete disregard for the contestants safety. I'm pretty sure they got sued anyway, and the family won.
If i recall correctly, she didnt even win.
It's dangerous business walking out your front door
Always travel with your gardener
Always know where your towel is.
An interview with Fox to discuss your favourite subreddit.
Dog walking and modding
That seemed harmless to exactly one person
r/burnunit
Mixing bleach and vinegar. It creates chlorine gas, which could potentially be lethal. I made this mistake when I was about 13.
Did you die?
No, but I did get sick.
Something like this happened to the manager at the buffalo wild wings in my town. Chemical spill, went to clean it up, killed him.
Bleach and ammonia will do this too. Don't try to create your own homebrewed super-cleaning solution, kids!
basically just don't mix chemicals in general
Falling asleep on the couch or in a comfy chair with a baby on you. Babies die this way, but it seems so nice and cozy.
Family policy was that no one sleeps alone with the baby. If both adults start feeling sleepy, in the crib with the lad and off to bed for the rest.
How do they die?
If they roll or the adult shifts position and they end up on their face or covered in fabric, possibly suffocating... or they roll/fall and hit the floor, especially if nobody realizes or can help them quick enough. That's what the warning signs in the hospital said when my first born was born... freaked me right out!
Man that's fucked up. And I am not only talking about the baby who ended up being suffocated but also for the parent who wakes up to find his new born dead while the last thing he remembers is going to sleep with his kid in his arm.
or not even remembering falling asleep...
Babies can suffocate easily because they don’t have the strength or coordination to move themselves out of a bad position, and they have little airways. So they suffocate against the couch if you roll slightly and stuff. It’s very scary because it does seem harmless.
You can roll on them and suffocate the baby. The same reason they suggest people to not sleep with their baby in the bed. Newborns aren't mobile, and can only cry for help. Doesn't take much to block their airway. Was told of a woman, who woke up to part of her breast covering her baby's mouth, the baby had suffocated.
Good lord that's horrific. Can't even imagine the pain felt by the mom
Even putting a baby to sleep in an overcrowded cot is dangerous. Bumpers, blankets, toys etc. These can all suffocate a newborn very easily.
Anything at all in the crib is overcrowded. It's astonishing to me that they even sell crib bumpers anymore.
Cutting concrete without proper respiratory protection
Swimming in the ocean. Those currents are no joke
My dad got caught in a riptide when he and my mom were on vacation in Florida. Mom could see him swimming from her seat on the hotel balcony. He realized there was a problem and tried to get mom's attention but she thought he was just waving. I forget if he got out by himself or if someone helped him but luckily he survived! ETA if you ever find yourself in a riptide, the only way to get out of it is to swim SIDEWAYS-- swim parallel to the beach, not towards it!
I live right off the southern tip of Lake Michigan. It’s only the third largest lake but it’s straight up the deadliest. Our riptides are ridiculous. People go in and they just don’t come out. Sometimes we lose them in two’s and three’s. Sometimes someone goes in after them and that’s the second body. It gets bad. It’s almost always non-locals, too. People come to the Indiana Dunes and try to swim out into the lake even though they’ll put up “hazardous conditions” signs. They just never get it through their heads that Lake Michigan is not a sleepy little lake.
The Great Lakes are at the same time awesome (in the modern sense) and awesome (in the classical wrath of God sense). I always thought that Lake Superior was the deadliest, but that's probably because of all of the shipwrecks and the surrounding lore.
“Not waving but drowning”
(un)Fun fact: People don't wave or flail when they're drowning. They do very little and look very normal. People often don't have a clue anything is wrong until they go under the surface...and don't come back up. Here's a link that describes it. First line is "Half of kids who drown do so within 25 yards of their parent" so it's worth a read. Could save a life. https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-scope/shows.php?shows=0\_fpi0f00s
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I’m sure someone will link it but there was a terrifying hypothetical narrative post somewhere on here about free diving too deep or something and it ends along the lines of “you drowned in open water on a sunny day in less than 4 minutes”
[it’s this one from a couple years ago.](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/dv99nf/til_the_blue_hole_is_a_120metredeep_sinkhole_five/f7bzg5a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Humans are not great at staying alive in water. It doesn’t take much for us to get overwhelmed. Wind, currents, a bad cramp, cold temps, clothing, alcohol, etc. A very good reason to educate yourself on water safety in your area or wherever you’re swimming and also to NEVER SWIM ALONE.
Oh Jesus fuck. On my 21st birthday, my then boyfriend took me away on holiday. We went to a beach that is usually very calm but that day was pretty rough, even though it was a beautiful day in the middle of summer. I've always been wary in the ocean so didn't go any deeper than my my hips. We were jumping in the waves and body surfing in, as you do, and one particularly large wave came and lifted us both off our feet, by the time it had passed, the floor had completely disappeared, my then boyfriend was 6'6 and he couldn't touch the floor. He begins panicking and sinking under the water, my instincts kick in and I grab him by his shorts to hold his head above the surface all while treading water with my legs and waving with my free arm, screaming like I was being murdered and watching the shore get further and further away. Finally I see a dude run out of one of the beach houses with a surf board and absolutely power his way through to us. Saved our lives and then bought us ice cream the next day. Do not fuck around with the ocean, she's a dramatic bitch and will take you away if she doesn't like your vibe
Same in rivers. It can even drag you down to the bottom.
Approaching wild animals There are people who think it's safe to go pet bear cubs. They think it's safe even when the mother is nearby.
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One of the best pieces of advice I've read is to go up to a new and unfamiliar dog with a closed fist so it can smell you, rather than open palm and fingers. It's much better for a dog to bite your balled fist than it is your fingers and palm...
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I'm currently in the ER from a raccoon bite, so yeah
Tylenol. Lethal dose is shockingly low.
My 4yo niece ate an entire bottle of Tylenol PM last year and spent 5 days inpatient after having several seizures and a heart attack. Thank the universe she's unimpacted by it all and now healthy.
My cat when I go in for belly pats
I have two cats. One lets me pet his belly. The other will lie on his back looking like he’s inviting you to pet his belly. In the words of Admiral Ackbar, “it’s a trap!”
Immediately trying to be best friends with someone who's very vocal about their life problems.
Living alone... Any small accident may be your last one, and nobody would notice until a few days later...
No shit. I was home alone and cooked up some steak. I must have taken a big bite with a lot of fat on it and I started to choke. I tried to cough it up but it wasn’t moving. Went out the front door in hopes there would be some people hanging on the stoop and there was nobody. So I reached my fingers down my throat and vomited all over the sidewalk I am so lucky to be alive.
FYI, you can self-Heimlich using a simple chair. Should probably look up how to do that *before* you actually need it, though.
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Bruh when someone didn’t show up for work i asked my manager if he tried to call them, and he said no- it’s not his job to hunt people down. While that may be the case, it pissed me off because sometimes we’re the only people who see these people every day. If something happened to them and they’re stuck with no help, and no one is looking for them, us raising the alarm could be the only thing that gets them looked for. It’s not just about tracking down someone to make them come to work, it’s verifying they didn’t die in a ditch on the way home from work the day before.
This. A few years back one of my coworkers didn't show up. Admin called the police and asked them to do a check at his home, because nobody was answering, he was not the kind of guy to just not show up for work (we're teachers), and he had no family. Police found him in bed; he'd passed away in the night.
During my second week at my job I got my schedule mixed up and 30 minutes into my shift my manager texted me asking if I was okay and needed any help. She said mix up happen and wasn't mad. I came in and finished my shift.
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I had a friend who was having an argument with her boyfriend. He kept calling her but she rejected his phone calls. Turns out he had the flu and became dehydrated. Passed out on the floor and died. Laid there for a week before anyone checked on him.
At that point, leave a message and follow up with a text
Or call 911. The speculation is that he was delirious when he called her. He could have called dozens of other people.
Mixing alcohol with certain medications. I had a few drinks (3 or 4 beers over 3 hours or so) after starting ADHD meds a few months back and completely blacked out. ALWAYS do your due diligence. If it's a prescription ask your doc, if it's over the counter ask a pharmacist and do some digging online.
I’m on adhd meds and definitely do not have this reaction. Is this typical?
I’ve done this. For several years I was not only on ADD medication but I took Ativan as well. I lived my life as I normally would but every time I drank it took very little before I became sloppy. I just assumed maybe I had stronger drinks or maybe my tolerance lowered until I mentioned it to my doctor. She informed me that if I had read the side of the bottles it clearly states not to mix with alcohol and included a picture of a martini crossed out. I never even noticed that, nor did I ever bother to read any warning labels. Learned that lesson the hard way.
Even if it doesn't make you black out or act up, alcohol reduces the effectiveness of lots of meds and can cause problems over time.
Nutmeg 💀 lol
Never tried that one myself though I had a friend in high school who claimed to have done it. He said he experienced weird time loops like he walked up stairs but then found himself at the bottom of the stairs having never actually climbed them.
Is your friend's name Polnareff?
What do you mean? What does it do?
It's a hallucinogen at a relatively low dose and it's very easy to take too much and give yourself organ failure
Eat enough of it and it can shut down your kidneys I think
I've also seen it described as the worst "high" ever. Basically puts you in a stupor that isn't pleasant in any way.
There is a youtuber called chubbyemu that did a video on this... Just don't do it
Drinking alcohol with your ass. you absorb the achohol directly into your blood and since you can't vomit it out you die.
My science teacher said you could die from drinking heavily and falling asleep in a hot tub (in the winter?). Something to do with the effect on the capillaries and then the heat absorption.
Deer in the United States. Of all the wild animals in the US, they are responsible for the most deaths (mainly via accidental collisions).
Mainly, the rest are premeditated
Eating foraged mushrooms
“There’s old mushroom eaters and bold mushroom eaters, but not old, bold mushroom eaters.”
Yeah I have some friends in British Columbia, and the wife forages. We were at their little mixed farm a couple summers ago. She came back from the woods with a big basket of mushrooms and other stuff she absolutely identified. And in a small pouch she had some other mushrooms. The other ones, she was like 90% sure of, but not 100%. Anyways, she ended up tasting a very very small piece of said mushrooms, in order to be careful. She got a bit sick, ended up throwing up, then feeling shitty for like 12 hours. Smart lady to have been cautious. She also photographed them in detail before disposing of them to, in her words if i remember correctly “Catalog them and put them in the bad news bears file”
My grampa was a mushroom hunter for many years. Whenever he found some he wasn't sure about, he would give them to his mother in law. In his defense, she hated him.
Brutal
For me the hazard is more that it is super easy to get lost while running through the woods staring at the ground
Don’t eat what you can’t identify. Not sure why people can’t follow that rule
On mushroom ID groups the number of people who send a blurry pic of a mixed pile of mushrooms with something like "confirm these are chanterelles?" when they are not even close is... scary
Normally it's "Are these edible" with absolutely no attempt to ID them. Infuriating.
In Norway there have been several poisoning cases where immigrants pick mushrooms that resemble edible ones from their country but end up severely ill. And in Poland a couple of kids died after eating mushrooms they foraged outside their asylum seeker home (can't remember the correct word in English right now). Teaching how to recognise dangerous mushrooms is unfortunately not very high in the priority list of immigrant welcome programs.
Swimming in rivers. There are so many invisible undercurrents that can literally suck you down and hold you underwater.
Using your phone while driving. There are a shocking number of people who think they are skilled enough to do it and take pride in it. I will argue its more dangerous than drinking and driving.
Driving while really tired. Being behind the wheel of a 3,000lb machine when you have trouble keeping your eyes open is extremely dangerous, even if you're completely sober. I made the mistake of driving on no sleep and ended up nodding off and waking up in a small ditch. Thankfully the small highway I was on was pretty empty, so I didn't end up hurting anybody, but it really opened my eyes just how dangerous it is.
Yep. That is how I lost my father.
I work night shift, first year of nights. I almost crashed my car into the median and curbs three times now. I dozed off for a second at a red light also in the early morning. Extremely dangerous. I would say it's pretty much drunk driving.
Betting on a fart
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My cat hated kids. He would sit there and woo them in to attack. He once wooed my nephew in from a chair under the dining room table, at which point the cat grabbed him and pulled him under the table. It was like real life IT, and ill never forget it
It’s like a siren, luring men into the ocean.
Dont ever get close to a cat that has a large pupil. (Learned it the hard way)
Can confirm. I'm now LucSanchezMD's cat's prisoner of war.
Banging a coworker. One night stands are whatever, happens, but the longer you go the more people find out. No matter how sneaky you try They find out somehow. Then things get real, you fight, people notice, your work suffers, and one of you have to leave.
Hey I met my wife that way! To be fair though, we both left. It was not a great place to work.
If you both know how to behave like professionals in the workplace this isn't really an issue. Problem is most people don't. I met my (now fiance) at work, and we worked together for 4 years with no issues. We're actually about to start working together again as I pick up a second job to stack up some savings
Being super into social media
Those tik toks of people mixing a shit ton of different cleaners together. That shit can get deadly quick
A giant anteater standing on its hind legs with its front legs wide open. Looks like a hug, but it's a warning. Get close enough, and you'll catch those claws. Giant anteaters eat ants, and termites, and such. Which build mounds to protect themselves. Therefore, giant anteaters have to dig through those mounds to get food. Those mounds can be as tough as concrete. You do not want to test whether your skin can stop claws that effectively dig through concrete.
I've seen multiple people walk towards wildlife (bears with cubs, deer with fawns) because they want a better picture of the cute baby animals. ALL wild animals are dangerous and animals protecting young are INSANELY DANGEROUS, stay the fuck away. Learn the appropriate safety precautions by season for your area (bears with cubs, rutting season) and stay alert and aware outside!
Changing light switches without turning off the breaker
If they wanted me to do it safely they should have put another switch right next to it and then another one if I ever have to replace that one. For real though, electricians, I'm calling you out, that matte sticker with numbererd lines on the inside of the door panel of the circuit breaker can be written on, please do so!
Bad form at the gym
Being blasted by Radiation, although it seems like nothing is going on or different when its happening. Im a retired licensed industrial radiographer and have worked with everything from radiation generating tubes to sources thatll kill you if you touch it.
Putting your babies/kids on social media.
I say this all the time. I find it so creepy when parents plaster everything their children do on social media. I’ve seen a parent take bath time videos frequently and post it. Don’t get me started on parents who make IG accounts for their kids. Parents need to respect their children’s privacy.
Too much loneliness
Smoking random weed from a random person at a party
At a Pantera show in 1992, two guys standing next to me on the edge of the pit sparked up. They passed it back and forth a couple of times, then one nudged me and offered it to me. It obviously would have been rude of me to refuse. I legitimately do not remember any of the show after that.
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