top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 196 points 3 years ago (36 children)

MSG. People will swear it gives them all manner of ailments

  • source
  • hideshow 36 child comments
  • [–] 31 points 3 years ago (13 children)

    I bought a big pack of msg from the Asian supermarket and use it instead of normal salt for many things. My partner and I call it wonder salt.

    (Of course, msg like normal salt or anything should be used in moderation lol)

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 13 child comments
  • [–] 25 points 3 years ago* (6 children)

    I bought a big pack of msg from the Asian supermarket and use it instead of normal salt for many things. My partner and I call it wonder salt.

    I hear the voices of my ancestors cry in confusion.

    But seriously speaking, I've never encountered MSG being used in place of salt. We use it here to give food more of that nondescript meaty taste (aka umami).

    Personally, if I need both salty and umami tastes I'd reach for soy or fish sauce first (depending on what's being cooked). I'd only add MSG and/or salt if I really have toβ€”usually to make minute adjustments.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • load more comments (6 replies)
  • load more comments (6 replies)
  • load more comments (17 replies)
    [–] 177 points 3 years ago (5 children)
    load more comments (5 replies)
    [–] 165 points 3 years ago (14 children)

    LGBTQ people and drag queens.

  • source
  • hideshow 14 child comments
  • load more comments (14 replies)
    [–] 155 points 3 years ago (14 children)

    In South Korea most fans have timers so they're not left on overnight, because people think it'll kill you if you do leave it on.
    This belief wasn't helped by medical examiners putting "death by fan" on the death certificates of suicide victims to help the dead save face and spare the families the embarrassment of a "cowardly death" for a few decades.

  • source
  • hideshow 14 child comments
  • [–] 35 points 3 years ago (12 children)

    What is death by fan supposed to mean? Like how would you die from a fan?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 12 child comments
  • load more comments (8 replies)
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 98 points 3 years ago (21 children)

    For my country (Germany): Catching a draft. Basically people believe that a light breeze from an open window will make you ill.

  • source
  • hideshow 21 child comments
  • [–] 24 points 3 years ago

    Not only colds, but you also get stiff necks! According to my mother, it's almost instantly. Leaving two windows open makes here neck stiffer than a priest in a kindergarten, but only inside. Standing in the wind outside is perfectly fine.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (16 replies)
    [–] 79 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (17 children)

    Living near a nuclear plant.

    Little do they know, that they get more than 50x more radiation effect from the natural surroundings and the rocks in earth than from the nuclear plant 🀭 And our body is really capable of dealing with that since the beginning of our evolution (DNA repairs and co).

    https://pages.vassar.edu/ltt/files/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-21-at-1.18.09-AM1.png

    here is a chart showing radiation intensities for various sources of radiation

  • source
  • hideshow 17 child comments
  • load more comments (16 replies)
    [+] 75 points 3 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)
    load more comments (4 replies)
    [–] 73 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Staying in hostels when traveling overseas. The amount of people who tell me I'm crazy and going to get murdered if I stay in a hostel is ridiculous.

    Hostels are great, and not any more dangerous than hotels are, you just have to look at reviews and go for the type you want. You can also rent private rooms at a lot of them. I always stay at one's with a kitchen so I can save a bunch on food, too.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 73 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    5G, Vaccines, MSG, WiFi, Socialized Medicine, Jews.

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments (4 replies)
    [–] 66 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    The Tor Browser, it's just a normal Browser with some functionality to improve privacy.

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • load more comments (6 replies)
    [–] 60 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    Swimming around in a spent nuclear fuel pool: https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • load more comments (5 replies)
    [–] 59 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    Jet fuel.

    People seem to have the impression that it's some extremely explosive stuff that has to be handled with the upmost care, but it's just highly refined kerosene. It can be used as a replacement for Diesel fuel in many cases - in fact, U.S. military vehicles can run off either. We put it Toyota Hylux pickups up in northern Greenland because it doesn't gel up like Diesel fuel.

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • load more comments (4 replies)
    [–] 53 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    Australia. Maybe not completely harmless, but far less dangerous than non-Australians make it out to be.

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    [–] 52 points 3 years ago (12 children)

    Video games. There’s absolutely no evidence that they make people more violent.

  • source
  • hideshow 12 child comments
  • load more comments (12 replies)
    [–] 48 points 3 years ago (10 children)
  • [–] 23 points 3 years ago (5 children)
  • [–] 41 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    There have been three accidents related to nuclear power generation, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukashima. There were a total of 33 deaths attributed to those three incidents (32 from Chernobyl and 1 from Fukashima.)

    There are 58 deaths per terawatt-hour attributed to coal alone, mostly due to air pollution.

    I'd say that nuclear power is very close to completely harmless in comparison. Certainly in contrast to its perception among the general public.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments (4 replies)
  • load more comments (4 replies)
    [–] 47 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    Sharks.

    More people die due to things like selfies, falling out of your bed, tipped vending machines and heck, even balloons, then to a shark.

    Just because something can kill you doesnt mean it will, more often than not, it actually wont.

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • load more comments (7 replies)
    [–] 47 points 3 years ago* (13 children)

    Huntsman spiders

    They are large, and they gallop across your ceiling like demented gazelles, chasing down cockroaches.

    However, they're nonaggressive to humans, you'd have to seriously harrass one to provoke it into biting you, and the worst they could do to you is a beesting-like bite.

    They're also all named Kevin.

  • source
  • hideshow 13 child comments
  • load more comments (13 replies)
    [–] 45 points 3 years ago (9 children)

    The dark. Everything seems more scary in the dark

  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • load more comments (9 replies)
    [–] 39 points 3 years ago* (4 children)

    Scuba Diving. Lots of people have heard that your lungs can pop or something similar and it makes them really afraid to try it. If you hold your breath, you may have issues with your lungs but your SCUBA apparatus is such an amazing design that even if you need to throw up underwater it's designed to filter your vomit through the apparatus so you can continue breathing even after throwing up THROUGH it (which you should do if you feel nauseous down there). Just keep the apparatus in your mouth and don't stop breathing and you'll have a great time.

    Scuba Diving is one of my favorite things to do and I really think more people should try it!

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments (4 replies)
    [–] 32 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Spiders.

    Even black widows basically have to be harassed into biting.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 30 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Dihydrogen monoxide except for when it completely replaces the air.

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments (4 replies)
    [–] 29 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    Canadian Geese. They are super aggressive but cannot hurt you.

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • load more comments (5 replies)
    [–] 26 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    People who are dependent on opiates and opioids.

    Some people who are in a lot of pain legitimately need the medicine in order to have a normal life. It doesn't make us high, it makes us 'normal' because we actually require the medicine to bring us to normal levels of activity.

    Just because someone is physically dependent on the medicine, does not make them an addict too

    Most of us would rather never take another pill in our lives if we were suddenly healed.

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • load more comments (7 replies)
    [–] 25 points 3 years ago (19 children)
    load more comments (19 replies)
    [–] 25 points 3 years ago (9 children)

    Wild strawberries. As far as I know there are no wild strawberries that are poisonous. There are two types, wild strawberries that resemble normal strawberries but smaller, which taste delicious, and mock strawberries, which taste like water but are also safe to eat. Mock strawberries can be recognized as growing upward and having protruding red seeds.

  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • load more comments (9 replies)
    [–] 25 points 3 years ago (18 children)

    Cellphones in a gas station. Also double dipping in a sauce or dip.

  • source
  • hideshow 18 child comments
  • load more comments (18 replies)
    [–] 24 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (10 children)

    Climbing, the gear is all rated to lift 2 tonnes, so a medium sized car. It won't snap with you on it.

    Edit: sorry this is misleading, climbing is not harmless, and a lot can go wrong even with good equipment. The point I wanted to convey was that equipment failure is an unlikely cause of problems for climbing

  • source
  • hideshow 10 child comments
  • load more comments (10 replies)
    [–] 24 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Most US cities are not as dangerous as the news makes them out to be.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    [–] 23 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    ITT: people that don't know what completely harmless means

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 23 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    According to my mother, gay marriage. Nuts on mustaches is just the end of the world to her for some reason.

    Otherwise, she's a sweet lady.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    load more comments
    view more: next β€Ί