this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
846 points (99.5% liked)

Mildly Interesting

17584 readers
3 users here now

This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.

This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?

Just post some stuff and don't spam.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 140 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Damn, I don't think that's mildly interesting at all. That's a book I want to read

[–] SlippiHUD@lemmy.world 122 points 1 month ago (2 children)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/413371.Worldwalk

The book in question. He was housed by over 400 families while on his walk.

[–] dogsnest@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Did the families take turns, or did they all walk with him?

[–] EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Their bodies formed the structure which housed him.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

On that sombre note:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairngorm_Plateau_disaster

It was only on Monday afternoon, when the parents were gathered at the school, that the news came that five of their children were dead. The father explained that the boy who survived was the smallest student in the party; maybe the others (two women leaders, four girls and one boy) had been huddling round him to protect him from the cold

[–] KSPAtlas@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Surprised I've never heard of this, despite me going to the Cairngorms once

[–] tetris11@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

The boy who survived has never talked about the incident. Can you imagine coping with the guilt of feeling the warmth of your classmates cocooned around you fading gently away one by one, leaving you alone with only the memory of their sacrifice....

[–] SlippiHUD@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Simultaneously, it inspired the Mortal Engines movie.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago
[–] aviationeast@lemmy.world 85 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Welp there you have it. If you want to challenge his conclusion you must walk long and hit more countries than he did.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 83 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That's overkill. I only need a mile and his shoes.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But then you don't get to sing that 500 miles song. At least go 5 miles while muttering about multipliers between verses.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 55 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wow even the guy that wanted to be the man that fell down at your door only walked 1000 miles. This is pretty hardcore.

[–] seang96@spgrn.com 28 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Probably just really wanted to escape Ohio.

[–] bitwaba@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

On April 14, 1970, during an 11g slingshot maneuver on the remote side of the moon on the Apollo 13 mission, Astronaut Jim Lovell achieved what every other person born in Ohio has always dreamed of:

Getting as far away as humanly possible.

[–] solstice@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Michael Collins has him beat though because he got to do it alone in blissful silence, with nobody around to ask him if he's working hard or hardly working.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] teft@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I've been a bunch of places all over the world and I would agree. The world isn't terrible.

All the assholes who live in it however...

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago

People really will find any excuse to leave ohio

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Despite the horrid things that occur in this world, I do believe that people are fundamentally good and want to do good for the people around them. The people that do evil things were not born that way.

[–] Rookwood@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Sociopaths exist and they rule the world.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yep, the majority are good people that assume others are good people too. And they get ruthlessly exploited by sociopaths that end up ruling everyone and forcing all of us to live our lives along their zero-sum worldview.

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 22 points 1 month ago

Don't underestimate the corruptive influence of power and privilege either. I know it's unpopular to humanize the people who ruthlessly exploit others, but they aren't necessarily innately selfish, and are just as much a product of circumstance as others. The wealthy are perhaps the most alienated from the material and human cost of their wealth by a system that is designed to do so, and they are rewarded for behaving selfishly.

If you reduce the complexity of the world to "most people are good but the few bad people ruin it for everyone," then you run the risk of thinking that the solution to the problem is to remove the "bad people" from power and replace them with "good people." You'll inevitably be disappointed when the "good people" turn out to be "bad people" after experiencing power and privilege.

[–] felixwhynot@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Probably some narcissists too

[–] Kaboom@reddthat.com 5 points 1 month ago

In my experience, the vast majority of people are good. Like 99.9% of them. But there's still evil people in this world. My grandmother is one, she's tried killing my siblings twice, (the first time looked like negligence, after the second she wasn't given another chance.) and gave her husband brain damage. Thankfully, she's not related to us by blood.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wouldn't count a multiple day walk as a single walk.

When you get to sleep, it starts a new walk.

Otherwise I have been having a walk for my entire life.

I'd argue that if it's conceived of as a journey with a set end point - "I'm going to walk from Vancouver to Toronto", by way of example - you could consider it a single walk. If you're just walking everyday without a set end point in mind, I'd agree with you.

Maybe 'journey by foot' is the better phrase here, idk.

[–] VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 1 month ago

"I just gotta see this for myself."

[–] Bahnd@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

How many roads must a man walk down?

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It would be a white guy in the 1980s. “Yeah the world isn’t that terrible”

Dudes don’t even have to think twice walking to their car at night.

[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

Did you read the post? Seems like he did have to think twice.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 month ago

Absofuckinglutely, imagine being black and walking through rural counties in the US much less other countries. The average person "might" leave you alone but the police absolutely will not.

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 12 points 1 month ago

I think it's an amazing story that he was able to find his way back home after walking such a long distance!

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 10 points 1 month ago

Well yeah, the world and by extension your life is mostly harmless. It's quite the statistical anomaly when you do get harmed but it's not to say it's impossible.

People do tend to get stuck in that awareness of chance of harm and often over prescribe it to certain parts to keep up the fear. That's probably cause people are also mostly stupidly uninformed.

[–] TrousersMcPants@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There were bandits in 1987??

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 17 points 1 month ago

Only three years later some bandits tried to break into a kids house over Christmas.

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 12 points 1 month ago

Still are in some parts of the world. Less arrows and swords more guns and machetes

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] sit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago

SIR, YES SIR.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Most life-changing discovery: make videos of yourself bumming around the world and total strangers will send you money.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 4 points 1 month ago

Sounds like an average playthrough of STALKER.

[–] Hellsfire29@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Daniel Pearl would like a word

load more comments (1 replies)

Walk... Hhard

[–] Shardikprime@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Bro had no enemies, what a madlad

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 4 weeks ago

This is more than mildly interesting. That guy probably lived a very interesting life

[–] ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Petition to rename this epic journey as "The Walk For The Ages".

I want a book, movie, and an epic ballad with at least a dozen dozen stanzas!

load more comments
view more: next ›