The Internet can be a great place to learn new things. And it’s not only for learning fascinating facts. In some online groups, folks share advice about simple everyday things that other people might not know about. Curious to learn why your postman might put a dryer sheet in your mailbox? This subreddit’s got you!
The online community we’re covering here today shares tips and tricks that they think all people should know. That’s probably why it’s called r/YouShouldKnow. Similar to the excellent r/LifeProTips subreddit, r/YouShouldKnow is a place “to share tips and tricks that will help [you] improve on activities, skills, and various other tasks.”
YSK that Harvard offers a free certificate for its Intro to Computer Science & Programming.
Why YSK: Harvard is one of the world's top universities. But it's very expensive and selective. So very few people get to enjoy the education they offer.
However, they've made CS50, Harvard's Introduction to Computer Science and Programming, available online for free. And upon completion, you even get a free certificate from Harvard.
I can't overstate how good the course is. The professor is super engaging. The lectures are recorded annually, so the curriculum is always up to date. And it's very interactive, with weekly assignments that you complete through an in-browser code editor.
To top it all off, once you complete the course, you get a free certificate of completion from Harvard. Very few online courses offer free certificates nowadays, especially from top universities.
Yet when it comes to formal education during the COVID-10 pandemic, it seems that experts have only bad things to say. A UNESCO report unveiled the realities of what many students faced during the lockdown. Technology promised an easier and more seamless education process, but instead, the students were less engaged, felt like they were left behind, and achieved less.
#22
YSK that there is NEVER only one deer.
Never, ever ever.
If you're driving at night and just saw a single deer cross the road at the edge of your headlights? SLOW DOWN ANYWAY. Slow to a crawl, if it's safe to do so. A second deer is nearby and will follow it across, every time.
I've driven on rural Midwest highways my entire life. Just yesterday, for the first time ever, I actually saw a lone deer. But that's not the norm, and that's how they getcha.
YSK that Amazon has a serious problem with counterfeit products, and it's all because of something called "commingled inventory."
Anecdotally, the problem is getting severe. I used to buy all my household basics on Amazon (shampoo, toothpaste, etc), and I've gotten a very high rate of fake products over the past 2 years or so, specifically.
Most recently, I bought a bottle of shampoo that seemed really odd and gave me a pretty serious rash on my scalp. I contacted the manufacturer, and they confirmed it was a fake. Amazon will offer to give your money back if you send it back, but that's all the protection you have as a buyer.
Since I started noticing this issue, I've gotten counterfeit batteries, counterfeit shampoo, and counterfeit guitar strings, and they were all sold by Amazon.com. It got so bad that I completely stopped using Amazon.
The bigger question is "what the hell is going on?" This didn't seem to be a problem, say, 5 years ago. I started looking into why this was the case, and I found a pretty clear answer: commingled inventory.
YSK: If a nurse tells you that you’re entitled to a second opinion, we think you probably should.
If a nurse goes out of his or her way to tell you this, they either don’t like your doctor or don’t agree with him/her.
We can’t tell you this outright, because it’s unethical (in some circumstances) and could get us in hot water.
Edit: wow! Never expected this to get so big. Thank you for all the awards.
It should be mentioned that any advice from any nurse or doctor should be taken with a grain of salt and with consideration of your relationship to that person. It also depends on the setting you are in.
A second opinion isn’t a bad thing and often times doesn’t mean the diagnosis is incorrect BUT sometimes there is more than one way to deal with things. (Treatment for cancer, surgical vs. medical management etc ). Sometimes it’s just nice to have two docs saying the same thing, especially when it comes to significant issues.
I merely wanted to point out that because of the broken system sometimes things aren’t as they seem. Just know if you have reservations or concerns you have the right to address them.
However, some say that the Internet can offer alternatives to the things we learn in school. School, according to them, doesn't teach us the life skills that we need. Dr. Carol Morgan writes for HuffPost that the most important skill that we're not taught in schools is communication. Most people, according to her, don't learn to solve conflicts or express themselves well up until they're in college.
#25
YSK that BBC has one of the biggest and best recipe collections available for free, and since they are a public service, they have no ads, no walls of text, just recipes.
Google has transformed every recipe web into a wall of text that they are forced to write if they don't want SEO to screw them.
Fortunately for us, BBC is a public institution and they don't need to do it. The collection is massive and has the recipes right away.
YSK That if you are a Verizon Wireless customer in the US, a new program launched today called Verizon Custom Experience. It tracks every website you visit and every app you use. The program automatically enrolls all customers, who must specifically opt out if they don't want to be tracked.
Why YSK: If you prefer to keep your browsing habits private, you should consider opting out. There is essentially no benefit to giving away your information to Verizon Wireless. Unlike with other sites, where one can at least argue targeted ads pay for free services, with this Verizon program, you are essentially receiving nothing in return for giving up your privacy.
She also mentions how skills like sewing, cooking, or financial planning aren't part of any curriculum. Her answer to why this happens: people think children will learn these things at home. The thing these people fail to consider is that not all parents know how to effectively communicate or have these simple life skills.
#28
YSK if you own a Samsung smart TV that has ads, you can block them by adding ads.samsung.com to your block list on your internet router.
Have a Samsung smart TVs with ads that were annoying as hell. Found out they can be blocked and tried it. It worked!
YSK: Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, created over 6,500 videos that can educate you (for most undergrad classes) on almost every topic in physics, math, astrology, history, economics and finance FOR FREE. His videos are great extensions to learning and help fill gaps of knowledge.
You can check his videos out on YouTube and Khan Academy!
Just because they're easy, Morgan writes, doesn't mean they're not important. "I think another reason we don't teach these skills is because they're 'soft.' In other words, 'easy.' But I disagree. I think soft skills are more important than most of what our children are taught."
Which brings us back to our lovely subreddit. Did you learn some new things from this selection from r/YouShouldKnow? Don't forget to tell us in the comments!
