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Some, like mathematician Roger Antonsen, believe that numbers are the key to understanding the world. (Antonsen even gave a brilliant TED talk to explain this statement, which I highly recommend.) And there's a Reddit thread that vividly illustrates the point.

It started when platform user JustinMGH made a post, asking others to share facts and stats that sound like obvious exaggerations but actually aren't.

Immediately, people started delivering fascinating, weird, and even disturbing titbits of information, changing each other's perspective about everything around them, even if ever so slightly.

#1

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread The difference between million and billion is huge (relatively):
1 Million seconds = 11 Days
1 Billion seconds = 31 years

TheIshark , Sarah-Rose Report

#2

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread The budget to send to the Curiosity Rover to the Mars is less than the worldwide military expenditure for thirteen hours

anon , Robert Sullivan Report

#3

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread Cleopatra was alive closer to the Moon landing than she was to the construction of the great pyramids.

anon , Christopher Michel Report

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Tabby_Sohee
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’ve heard this one a hundred times and it blows my mind every single time… what a history

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#4

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread USA citizens privately own more firearms than all countries combined. Even more than most militaries.

ChikNoods , Jamal Fanaian Report

#5

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread Pocahontas and William Shakespeare died less than a year apart less than 150 miles away from each other.

LibraryLass , Ann Longmore-Etheridge Report

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Captain Kyra
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Barbara Walters, Anne Frank, and Martin Luther King Jr were all born the same year.

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#6

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread The original height of Mount Everest was calculated to be exactly 29,000 ft high, but was publicly declared to be 29,002 ft in order to avoid the impression that an exact height of 29,000 feet was nothing more than a rounded estimate.

Chiper136 , watchsmart Report

#8

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread 80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn’t survive WWII.

anotherpoweruser , Signal Corps Archive Report

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#9

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread 1 in 2 Australians will get skin cancer in their lifetime

Wibbles20 , Caleb Russell Report

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Agfox
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can confirm, am Australian & had a squamous cell carcinoma removed from the back of my left leg 10 days ago

SarDemMin
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hope you make 100% recovery and hope the cancer never returns! F*ck cancer.

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MargyB
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Tasmania the weather is colder than the rest of Aus but our sun is stronger. You'll burn even if you think it's cold

cugel.
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've had 11 I think, so I'm dinky di, true blue, fair dinkum Aussie. (Oi)

The Happy Hijabi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's true. I was 12 when I was told that I had some moles that were melanomas. The doctor couldn't even cut them out until I was much older, so I just had to live with cancer in the back of my neck for most of my teen years.

Nancy Tate-Leach
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No I am sorry, melanoma is deadly. No doctor would leave it there to grow. You may have misunderstood.

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nuberiffic
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The UV index where I am today is 13. 10 is considered "extreme". And it's only just starting to get hot.

StrangeTrout
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unfortunately, sunscreen doesn't stop cancer. It will help with melanoma, but it's not a cure.

Senjo Krane
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Probably applies to all light skinned people in the southern hemisphere.

Gustav Gallifrey
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

'Sun safety' is an ongoing campaign here, but the effect of the message has been waning. A new emphasis is needed.

John Topper
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I initially thought this would be BS, but it is, astonishingly, not. If anything, it is understated. Other estimates say 2/3. Crazy

LizzieBoredom
Community Member
1 year ago

This comment has been deleted.

Vix Spiderthrust
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's why we in Britain have extensive rotational training programmes with the Aussies for dermatologists. Our dermatologists go to Oz to learn about sun damage, theirs come here to learn about literally anything else.

Frances M
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And yet the current drive for sun protection has resulted in the most cases of rickets in a first world country in the last 100 years.

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#10

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread Neutron stars are so dense that if you dropped a gummy bear from one meter away it would hit the surface in a microsecond with the force of 1,000 nuclear bombs.

Endless_Vanity , Kevin Gill Report

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ThatG
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One teaspoonful of this matter weighs more than 3 billion tons. If we were capable of dropping a small piece of neutron star onto the ground, it would slice through Earth like a bullet through cotton and come out the other side.

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#11

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread The state of Maine has more Black Bears than black people.

The_Real_BenFranklin , Patrick Connelly Report

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oktopus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This does actually appear to be more-or-less correct, depending on the estimation of the bear population and the accuracy of the first Maine demographic statistics which popped up in a quick web search. Also, with the same caveat, there seems to be approximately one black bear for every square mile of Maine.

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#12

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread Vatican city has a population of 2 popes per 1 square kilometer.

Darghy , Presidenza della Repubblica Report

#13

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread More silent films have been lost than saved

We live in an era where everything is saved, and it's hard to imagine such a massive loss of creative material. Plenty of films are lost, as late as the 1970s too.

ahhh_zombies , Richard Hsu Report

#14

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread Monsters Inc was released closer to the fall of the Berlin wall than to the present day.

setsomethingablaze , HarshLight Report

#15

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread All the ants in the world weigh about the same as all the people in the world.

Rheul , Anton Darius Report

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Headless Roach
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also, they work extremely hard and live only about 8 days, while turtles don't do shït and get to live 150 years. Let it sink in.

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#16

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread Nintendo existed at the same time as the Ottoman Empire.

roussell131 , Minh Hoang Report

#17

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread You could walk from North Korea to Norway and only pass through one other country.

Also, your feet would be a little sore.

SexAndCandiru , Samuel Rios Report

#18

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread Radio astronomer here! You exert more energy when you unfold a single piece of paper than we have collected in *all* the radio waves we have *ever* collected from outer space.

Andromeda321 , European Southern Observatory Report

#19

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread In a room with 23 people there is a ~50% chance that 2 people share a birthday

Phllips , CONG TY THIEN YOGA Report

#20

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread According to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, every two days human beings create as much information as we did from the dawn of time until 2003.

mortal19 , Chatham House Report

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#21

21 Facts That Seem Fake, But Are Actually Real, As Shared In This Online Thread Samsung is responsible for 25% of South Korea's GDP

klxander , DennisM2 Report

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Abby
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I see that. smart phones ,watches. appliances, TVs. and used by so many ppl. I hope the new fridge were getting comes with some free kimchi.

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