What is something that people think is dangerous but in reality is completely harmless? - eviltoast
  • Dudewitbow@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • kool_newt@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      It’s just the radioactive waste we don’t know what to do with and becoming a military or terrorist target parts that are dangerous.

      • NattyNatty2x4@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        No, we’ve known what to do with the waste for decades. Put it in cans, fill the can with cement, coat the can in cement, put the cans in a facility that is protected from geological events like earthquakes, and periodically check the cans/facility. In the US for example, The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository was being made before political pressure shut it down.

        The waste issue is and always will be one of political pressure and ignorance by the masses, not an actual logistical issue

      • kryptonicus@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        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.

  • PonyOfWar@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

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

    • minorsecond@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      We have a similar one here in the US. People think if you go outside when it’s too cold, you’ll get sick.

      • Perfide@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        It’s not completely baseless. You can’t get sick from the cold itself, but lower core body temp does weaken your immune system until you warm up, making it easier for you to get sick if you do get exposed to something.

        • RaLiChu@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          The cold, dry air during the winter can also dry out the mucus membranes in the sinuses which can make it easier for pathogens to enter the body. Again, doesn’t make you sick directly but does interfere with your body’s defense mechanisms.

      • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        In the US, I hear this more when your hair is wet: “Don’t go outside, it’s cold and your hair’s wet, you’ll get sick!”

    • yads@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Also Russia and probably most eastern European countries. One of my kids will catch a cold and the first thing my mother or grandmother will ask is if they were somewhere drafty.

  • swnt@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    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

  • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • hoodlem@hoodlem.me
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    1 year ago

    Many people think sharks are dangerous, but shark attacks are accidents in which sharks mistake humans for seals. Sharks are actually in more danger from us.

  • TheBananaKing@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Sorry, as an arachnophobe, Kevin better stay out of my house or have a faster draw than I do or he’s toast. Castle doctrine applies to spiders that large lmao.

  • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • LongJourney@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      That fear is what happens when the only exposure people have to hostels in the US comes from horror movies. I didn’t know that you can rent private rooms and get a kitchen - sounds like a nice setup.

  • EverlastingAnthesis@rammy.site
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    1 year ago

    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.