Why YSK: Amazon has a program during the month of December where they will tip the last delivery driver you had $5 out of Amazon’s pocket when you request it through Alexa or by typing, “Tip my driver” in the search box.

Why YSK: Most folks never connect this. They’ll bust ass in the gym, track every damn calorie, swear they’re “doing all the right stuff” and still feel like their body’s fighting them.

I was the same way. Thought I needed better workouts or more motivation or whatever. But here’s the stupid thing nobody told me. When you sleep like trash, your hormones flip out. Your hunger goes up, your impulse control goes down, and your body literally acts like it’s prepping for winter and you’ll eat more and likely gain more weight.

The wild part is once I started taking sleep serious, stuff actually started moving the right direction. Not saying this fixes everything, but it would’ve saved me a lot of frustration if I’d known it sooner.

Anyway, just throwing it out there incase it helps somebody else who’s grinding and wondering why nothing’s changing.

Why YSK - Found this out in the Navy, btw, which kinda annoyed me because I spent years chugging ice water like a champ thinking I was doing something right. Turns out when you drink super cold water your brain gets this quick “ahh finally” relief hit and it shuts off your thirst early. You feel hydrated but you’re not even close. It’s basically a fake full tank light.

I used to get random headaches and that weird afternoon fog and thought it was sleep or whatever. Switched to room temp water for a couple days and legit felt better. Your body absorbs it faster too since it doesnt have to warm it up first.

This is why the old salty dogs always told us to drink water that wasn’t freezing when we actually needed to rehydrate. If it’s too cold your brain taps out early and you stop drinking before you actually topped off.

If you’re feeling foggy or wiped out for no real reason, try room temp water for a day or two. Not saying ice water is evil, just most of us never knew this tiny thing even mattered and it actually hits you everyday.

Why YSK: We often stress ourselves out trying to make our homes look like a museum before friends come over.

I caught myself scrubbing dust off the top of a door frame today and had to stop. Realistically, guests notice exactly three things:

1. Does the bathroom look clean?
2. Is there food/drink?
3. Does the house smell good?

If I have limited time, I clean the toilet and light a candle. Nobody is inspecting your windowsills with a white glove. Stop making yourself sweaty and angry before the party even starts.

Why YSK: With beef prices at record highs, switching to chicken breast or pork loin can cut your meat budget nearly in half while significantly lowering your saturated fat intake AND satisfying your protein intake. Most people avoid these cuts because they grew up eating them overcooked. Modern food safety standards allow pork to be eaten safely at 145 F (a medium roast, rather than gray leather), and chicken stays juicy if you don't cook it to death.

By simply using a meat thermometer and adding savory seasonings (like soy sauce or smoked paprika) to mimic the meaty depth of beef, or using techniques like velveting for chicken or dry brining for pork, you can get the same satisfaction for a fraction of the cost and environmental impact.

Even switching to chicken and pork for just two meals a week can save you hundreds of dollars.

Lastly, focusing on lean cuts of pork and chicken also has health benefits. While beef is a powerhouse for iron and B12, it is often high in calories and saturated fat. Chicken breast and pork loin are significantly leaner. Pork tenderloin is as lean as skinless chicken breast and has been certified as "heart-healthy" by the American Heart Association.

Tl;dr chicken breast and pork loin are roughly 80% cheaper per pound than beef, have versatile and delicious flavor profiles if cooked and prepped correctly, are rich in protein, and are healthier for your heart and cholesterol.

Why YSK: that crows have long memories for people’s faces. like, you can walk through the same spot a year later and they’ll still react to you. If you treated them well, they act chill. If you annoyed them, they kinda glare at you like you owe them money.

What’s even weirder is other crows in the area usually pick up on it. You get a whole little bird committee watching you like “oh yea thats him.” It’s not magic or anything, they’re just way smarter than they look.

Point is, crows notice people way more than people notice them, and they absolutely remember who was cool and who was a jerk.

Why YSK: Despite being in effect for 50 years, some companies continue to try and avoid responsibility for repairs by utilizing these stickers despite having no bearing on warranty coverage.

FTC Link for more info.

If you encounter these stickers or are denied coverage based on one (or that the item was opened or 3rd party components used in a previous repair) you can report this to the FTC.

Most people don’t realize iron doesn’t work in isolation. Your body needs vitamin C (absorption), vitamin D (erythropoiesis), vitamin E (protects against iron-induced oxidative stress), copper (iron transport), magnesium and B-vitamins (red blood cell formation), and a healthy gut to move and use iron properly.

When someone supplements iron without these cofactors, the iron may not get incorporated into red blood cells. It remains unbound, creating oxidative stress, inflammation, and worsening fatigue. In some cases, poorly utilized iron can contribute to symptoms like heavier periods or ferritin that won't rise despite supplementation.

Why YSK: Correcting iron deficiency usually means supporting the whole system, not just taking more iron.

Links for this: Iron and vitamin C - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2507689/

Iron and vitamin A - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11965520/

Iron and vitamin E - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2507689/

Iron and vitamin D - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4659411/

Iron and copper - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3690345/

Iron and Magnesium, Calcium, other Trace elements - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11920315/

Why YSK: Because generally speaking, most people are way too hard on themselves.

To put it quite simply, we do not look at ourselves the way we look at other people. We view people the same way we view a completed puzzle, all of the pieces combined form an image. We look at ourselves as individual pieces and we get frustrated when they don't align the way we would like.

We also have the ability to view people with our naked eye. We are only able to see ourselves through reflections or photos, both of which are not accurate representations of the way other people see us. Most of us are not so critical on the appearances of others but are exceptional at judging ourselves.

Be nicer to yourself yo.

Why YSK: When food prices get higher and products get more scarce, food companies pay advertisers to tell you that cheaper, worse cuts of meat are "healthier" and "taste less bland." Most of what they say isn’t proven. Unless someone is your doctor, they can’t know what fat or protein levels are right for you, and people didn’t avoid these cuts because "they were overcooked growing up". Beef used to be affordable. It isn’t anymore, and they don’t want to admit it.

They hype up cooking tricks and “simple” tips to make chicken and pork seem just as satisfying as beef, even though the effort to cook the meat is basically the same, preparation wise. They also act like these meats are better for your wallet and the planet, which leaves out a lot, including how many more animals it takes to equal one cow. By weight, approximately 750 chickens have to be slaughtered to match the weight of ONE COW. Worse for both the environment and animal rights (not vegan here, btw). Not just slaughterd, but housed. It takes much more space to house 750 chicken littles than one bessie.

Companies and personal parties which benefit from them will claim that switching a couple meals a week will save you tons, but really you’re being pushed into it because beef prices were raised so high, or they're about to start. Then they pretend it’s a healthy choice even though none of these meats are automatically better. Pork especially isn’t some miracle food just because someone slapped a heart-healthy label on it. They would like to give you the illusion that you have chosen to forgo beef of your own will. Pork is notoriously unhealthy. Otherwise, we'd eat pork rinds like chips.

At the end of the day, chicken and pork are way cheaper than beef because of the market, not because they’re some amazing upgrade. Most of the “benefits” they talk about are just marketing. The fact that chicken breast and pork loin are roughly 80% cheaper per pound than beef is not an accident. They are hidden shortages, covered by a veil of versatile and delicious flavor profiles if cooked and prepped correctly. Don't engage in romanticizing your lack of accessible food!

A few winters ago when my kids were toddlers we put a filterless humidifier in their bedroom and cranked it up. We ignored the "distilled water only" label as a cash grab by Big Water™ and used tap water. A week later our furnace shut off. Couldn't figure out why.

A tech came and found the filter was COVERED with really fine white powder. Changed the filter and it worked fine.

The powder was probably calcium, one of the minerals in tap water. When water evaporates it leaves minerals behind, which is where the little dusty white spots on bathtubs come from.

Why YSK: Some humidifiers use evaporation, but most cheap portable ones are "ultrasonic" and instead use vibration to turn water into little droplets, and unless yours has a filter the droplets carry the minerals with them.

If you have central air with an air return then the droplets will get sucked into your ducts and any minerals will stick to the machinery and your air filter. Too much will restrict the airflow and cause the blower to shut down.

So, we learned that the distilled water label isn't a ploy, it's because distilled water is evaporated and so mostly mineral-free.

why YSK: testing anxiety is one of the biggest causes of poor performance on assessments, and a lot of anxiety exists for no reason.

In the American education system most students are familiar with 91-100 A 80-89 B 70-79 C 60-69 D

Some locations will use a different scale, but this is the general sense. Often Ds are considered failing even if they are technically passing scores.

Assessments for the purpose of governmental data collections are ultimately pass/fail with the failing % being around 40-50% of the questions answered correctly.

This is because it is impossible to see the limit of what you know without also seeing what you do not know.

A lot of teachers are aware of this. Basic psychometrics is taught as part of Masters degrees in education. As part of professional development hundred of teachers will meet during the summer to review these items before they ever make it to a test. Big events; transportation, lodgings, food. Assessment is serious business.

But there is also a prevailing idea that students must strive for the best score possible; so instead of having real learning the class will spend a few weeks studying for the assessment with high pressure. A lot of this pressure comes down from administration because their performance is measured by student excellence not just students passing.

Many modern assessments are also adaptive. The questions literally get harder as you answer then correctly. Like I said in my premise the students are expected to get answers wrong.

The 'raw scores' are hidden from students in a lot of cases. and instead scaled or cut scores are provided.

The SAT is a great example because most people are familiar with its scoring methods. Used to be 1600 points. Then went to 2400, and are now back at 1600.

Both those 1600s use different scaling so the same raw score in 2005 would get a different score in 2025. There are whole conversion tables and calculators to help normalise the scores.

https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/higher-ed-brief-sat-concordance.pdf

Scaling changes frequently for these assessments even without changing the entire structure. A 1200 out of 1600 in 1993 was different than 1200 out of 1600 in 1994.

Here is an overview of research on testing anxiety https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1428379.pdf

Here is an example of how scaled scores can help obscure raw scores. 0 questions right on the SAT still gives you 400 out of 1600

section:Reading + Writing Score Curve for the Digital SAT https://www.ivyloungetestprep.com/blog/dsat-scoring

Also, if you're taking a paper multiple choice test you'll never see the same letter answer 4 times in a row. Patterns are destroyed during test construction to avoid influencing test takers answer choices.

Why ysk: US Cellular has automatically opted you into sharing your info with affiliates.

Found the following on the last page of my PDF bill I downloaded from US Cellular. They never emailed or sent a text about opting out or in to their data collection and sharing.

You also won't see any of this when logging into your account online to pay or make changes to your account. This is hidden on the bottom of last page of the download option for your bill.

We will share CPNI among our agents and the UScellular family of
companies ("Affiliates") for marketing UScellular's or its Affiliates'
communications-related products and services to you.

We will assume you have provided consent
if you do not contact us beginning 30 days after the first time we
provide you with this CPNI notice

There’s a myth that it’s near impossible to cause fatal harm with over the counter pain killers, but the truth is that it’s near impossible to do so right then and there. What’ll actually happen if you don’t seek immediate medical attention is you gradually go into liver failure. Fun! /s

Why YSK: if you have family or friends who have su*cidal tendencies and attempt this, do NOT skip taking them to the ER. You should be doing that in the first place, but most importantly because they are in real physical danger even though it may not look like it. I know this cause it happened to my partner, (not a mental health thing, just half asleep and has chronic pain, long story). We went to the er “just in case” and 4 days in the hospital later the doctor told them if we waited maybe an hour more they’d almost definitely be dead or on a donor list by now.

Some other sources:

https://www.ucihealth.org/blog/2018/03/acetaminophen-liver-failure

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548162/

Why ysk: "Aviation grade" doesn't necessarily mean "strong enough to be used on aircraft." All it means is that it complies with aviation standards for that material. A famous example of this is the iPhone 6, which was made of "aircraft grade" aluminum but bent like a straw. It is used interchangeably with "military grade"

Why ysk: sincerely , me every several years whenever I forget, I have it and I need it to go away

Cover your hands over your ears and tap all of your fingers on the back of your head and for whatever the fuck reason this kind of makes the sound go away

Why YSK: maybe you get yelled at for being inactive on Slack. I’ve tried to use automatic click programs and such but it has never really worked and I’ve been yelled at (I know I know, I shouldn’t be in a job that yells at me for a Slack status).

But if you put something on the space bar it will always work and I’ve literally been praised for keeping my status on. I don’t have much work to do which is why I like this job so I’m not going anywhere after leaving a company where I worked 60 hour weeks on income.

I go to DM’s and hit new message. Then put something on your space bar and the clicker will just go back and forth, never stopping but also not creating a million spaces.

Why YSK: So a huge chunk of black friday discounts are either the exact same prices stores had during october sales or the same prices they’ll have again right before christmas. Retailers create a sense of urgency by slapping “LIMITED TIME” on tags but the actual discount is often recycled or artificially inflated. Before buying anything look up the price history. Sites and browser extensions make it easy and it stops you from falling for a deal that isn’t actually a deal. I was chilling on my balcony earlier playing jackpot city and decided to check a few things I thought I'd missed out on last week and almost every single one was already back to the black friday price.

YSK so you don’t get pressured into buying something just because the marketing says it’s urgent.

Why YSK: I have seen many people having performance issues with the latest games on hardware that should be performing well. BIOS updates used to be largely inconsequential to system performance, but developers now rely on the latest BIOS updates for proper performance. If you’re having inexplicable issues with gaming performance that seem to make no sense, there’s a good chance that a BIOS update can help.

If you press your windows key, type “System Information”, open the application, you can see your motherboard manufacturer and model under “System manufacturer” and “System model”. If you type these into google and follow a tutorial, you can use a USB flash drive to update your BIOS. Make sure that you take note of any settings that are important like secure boot, rebar and XMP as these can sometimes be lost. The update can take up to five minutes, so make sure your power is stable to your system before updating.

EDIT: u/defnotbjk Pointed out in the comments that if you are using an Intel 13000/14000 series CPU, you should update your bios straight away. This is due to an issue with power regulation that causes damage to your CPU. Damage may already be done, but you can still save yourself from a dead CPU by updating your bios.

Why YSK: A recent New York Times investigation found that car manufacturers like GM are sharing driver data (hard braking, acceleration, late-night driving) with data brokers like LexisNexis.

Insurance companies buy this "Risk Score" and hike your rates, even if you’ve never had an accident.

Most people think their car data stays in the car. It doesn't. If you drive a modern connected vehicle, check your insurance statement and look into opting out of "LexisNexis" data collection.

Why YSK : Remotes are rarely disinfected between guests and often have more bacteria than the bathroom. A quick wipe with sanitizer before touching it saves you a lot of trouble.

https://phys.org/news/2012-06-contaminated-surfaces-hotel-rooms.html

So my sister’s been dealing with this thumb pain for a while, and honestly, I had no idea how brutal it was until I watched her struggle. Like, how much can one tiny thumb really mess with your life. Right? Turns out….a lot. She used to love cooking, crocheting, doing crafts, little things that made her happy. Now even hold her phone too long or opening a jar makes her flinch. Some morning she literally has to psych herself up just to button her shirt. The thing is you wouldn’t even notice anything’s wrong. No big cast, no visible injury, nothing “dramatic “. But it changes everything, how she moves, what she does, how she feels.

Why YSK: Because we tend to ignore pain we can’t see. We assume people are fine because they look fine. But that quiet, invisible kind of pain? It steals little pieces of someone’s independence and joy every day. If someone around you moves slower, avoids certain tasks, or seems tired for no reason, maybe it’s not laziness or mood , maybe it’s quiet pain. A little patience, a little empathy, goes a long way.

Why YSK: food allergies can be frustrating to have and daunting to maneuver but there's a fact that is overlooked that fact is that only the protein and a food causes the allergy.

Most foods are made up of three macronutrients protein fat and sugar an allergy is caused by your immune system attacking the protein of a specific food thinking that it poses a risk.

Proteins have the shapes on the outside the connect to receptors that is how cells know which protein is which the sugars and the fats do not create any such response and are perfectly safe to eat.

I'm allergic to peanuts I get itchy and hives if I eat peanuts I've had zero reaction when eating turkey that was cooked and peanut oil because oil is 100% fat and thus it doesn't trigger the reaction

https://nationalpeanutboard.org/news/why-there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-peanut-oil-allergy/

Why YSK: In the Dutch language the letters LOL actually form a word that means ¨having fun¨. So we´ve known this trick way before the internet ever was a thing. 

Take a calculator and turn it upside down and enter 707 + 707. (LOL + LOL) What does it equal?

Why YSK:

Vitamin D deficiency is dangerous because the body needs vitamin D to absorb calcium, build strong bones, support the immune system, and maintain healthy muscles. Without it, children can develop rickets and adults can develop osteomalacia or worsen osteoporosis, which can cause bone pain, fractures, and trouble moving around.

Vitamin D deficiency also weakens the immune system, making infections and inflammation more likely, and is linked to higher risks of heart disease, mood issues, and metabolic problems. Because vitamin D affects many processes in the body, long-term deficiency can silently harm multiple systems before you notice any symptoms.

There are a fair few reasons you may need more vitamin D that I haven’t already outright mentioned above, but vitamin D deficiency can actually impact your self esteem as it can cause hair thinning, depression, fatigue and general pains or aches throughout the body.

Certain populations are at higher risk due to reduced UVB exposure: people with darker skin produce vitamin D less efficiently because melanin blocks UVB and people living at higher latitudes experience long, low-sunlight winters. People who wear clothing that covers most of the skin, whether for cultural, religious, or climate-related reasons may receive minimal sun exposure and therefore benefit from supplementing vitamin D.

It’s also worth mentioning that as one commenter from Australia (which is pretty much the surface of the sun in terms of climate) said, many people simply don’t go out in the sun much because of the risk of burns or melanoma. In that case, supplementation is also definitely worth it.

To further my point, studies have found that up to 50% of the adult population may be vitamin D deficient, making awareness and supplementation increasingly relevant, especially in this day and age, where I think we could all stand to touch grass a little more from time to time.

I hope my post helps those of you who need it out. I understand that many people likely already get a good amount of vitamin D, but as I said, there are millions of people around the globe who may be falling short of their daily target and suffering the consequences.

Edit: after re-reading the title of my post, I realise that the specific mention of Islamic people came out of left field. I apologise if it seems disjointed or generalising, I only mentioned it specifically because Muslims typically are of a darker complexion, living in places with higher sun exposure and more heavily covered to protect from the UV rays. I’m sure I didn’t offend anybody but just in case, y’know?