11 Things You're Terrified Of, But Shouldn't Be

[Logical]

Mostly common sense but still interesting because people tend to exaggerate stuff. Here are the topics. More details on each at the link.

1. Hitchhiking in America
2. Icky bacteria
3. Swallowing spiders while you sleep
4. Getting vaccinated
5. Video game violence
6. Flying in an airplane
7. Using a cellphone at the gas station
8. Spontaneous combustion
9. Swallowing gum
10. Cracking knuckles causing arthritis
11. Sharks

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/24/things-you-shouldnt-be-scared-of_n_4636971.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

[frazzled]

1. You say that ...

and then you may well spontaneously combust even as you sit there typing at your computer.

[Logical]

2. OK, now I am nervous. n-t

[pscot]

3. I was doing fine 'til we got to the sharks

[BadgerKid]

61. Sharks are fine.

It's the ones with frickin' laser beams on their heads to be concerned about.

[pscot]

69. They've really evolved; laser beams!

i knew it wasn't safe.

[Taitertots]

4. The first two things should probably be 1.Terrorists and 2.Your neighbors

[Logical]

12. So true, especially terrorists. They want us scared. n-t

[Mika]

51. Not so sure about 2.

My neighbor on one side is a swat cop who keeps at least 20 guns of all types in his car trunk.
My other neighbor never leaves his house w/o a giant handgun tucked into his waistband - even to pick up his newspaper from the lawn.

[femmocrat]

65. Nope. Not afraid of those two either.

The chances of encountering a terrorist are minute. And I never see my neighbors.

[Taitertots]

68. I'm not afraid of them either, but they drive our policy decisions and public discourse

And they do it because millions of other people are terrified of them.

[rustydog]

5. I think when your plane is plummeting towards earth in a smoky spiral

all 300 passengers aboard will firmly believe flying in a plane is bad fucking news.

I hate flying, I can't stand flying. But, in order to cross the country in a timely manner, I have to fly. Once the plane is in the air, I try to keep occupied until it lands...I'm not "terrified" of flying, but I don't like it.

[Logical]

10. I think it is because of not being in control for some people. n-t

[tblue37]

13. I like the explanation one comedian gave some years ago. He acknowledged that

one is statistically far more likely to be in an auto accident than in an airplane accident, but then he pointed out that after an airplane accident, the people involed are not going to be standing around exchanging insurance policy information.

[Mike Daniels]

82. That's basically pretty much the reason I don't like flying.

You can be in a car, train, or boat and unless the thing just blows up I would think the average odds of you walking away from an accident with all your limbs attached are somewhere in the mid-range double digits.

With a plane, once you're in the air I would think your chances of surviving any sort of critical mechanical failure drop pretty close to 0%

[Silent3]

88. Not to spoil the joke, but you're also more likely to be involved in a *fatal* auto...

...accident than a fatal airplane accident, in which case the whole insurance exchange thing doesn't happen either.

[tblue37]

100. True--but in terms of how humans *perceive* risk, the

typical airplane crash seems much less survivable than a typical automobile crash. There are not many airplane feeder-benders, are there?

The reason we are more likely to be killed in an auto crash is that we do a lot more riding around in cars, and so do a lot of other people, so there are a lot more car wrecks, and a lot more fatal car wrecks. It's a matter of sheer numbers. Even if most cars don't crash, the fact that there are a gazillion cars out there means that if even a small percentage of them crash, that is quite a lot of crashes, and quite a lot of those will end up being fatal.

Nowadays, though, airplane crashes in the US and Europe are pretty darned rare. So on top of the fact that we fly so much less than we drive, the rarity of plane crashes means that in absolute numbers, there will be fewer fatalities, even if everyone or nearly everyone on board is likely to die when one of those rare crashes occurs.

Also, Americans are terrible drivers. We get very little real training or practice before being allowed to zoom around at high speeds in a death missile weighing tons. We let impulsive, irresponsible kids zoom around in them, too.

I've heard that in at least some European countries, people must take a much more rigorous test before being issued a driver's license.

[pipi_k]

15. That is exactly

it.

If I'm in a car and want to get out, I can.

If I'm on a plane and tell the pilot I've had enough, he's not going to pull over at a rest area to let me out.

[Squinch]

6. Now, that's just silly...

Who in their right mind is actually afraid of spontaneous combu

[rustydog]

7. Badda BING!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. lol. nt

[lonestarnot]

9. I understand that a large gas bag may be capable of spontaneous combustion. Pugs quiver over it

chronically.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

41. DUzy Rec and thread win! I had to edit...

...to tell you I'm still cracking up over that comment!

Or maybe I'm just cracking up, lol.

Masterful use of the ubiquitous emoticon, Squinch! Thanks for the laugh.

[Squinch]

57. Well, thank you!

[nolabear]

62. That was hysterical!

Best use of smilies in a loooong time.

[NuclearDem]

73. WIN.

[Phentex]

11. Well then tell me why the spider seems to...

move along the ceiling until it's right over my face before it starts to descend.

Then all I can do is run screaming from the room until my husband has captured it and put it outside.

[arely staircase]

14. I am not afraid of any of those things nt

[bhikkhu]

16. How about the apocalypse, the rapture, or "the end of the world" of whatever variety

I suppose it goes in and out of style, but I know several people who don't plan for their futures, because they don't think there is going to be one.

One can propose absurd god-based ends, of course, from which there is no escape, but I always keep in mind that the day after any realty-based end of the world (market disaster, climate change, pole shift, volcanoes, etc) the majority of people will still get up in the morning and do their best to get on with things. On a geologic timescale things may not be so kind to us, but on the scale of human lives there may be struggle but there will be no end.

[GreenPartyVoter]

85. ^^^THIS

[obxhead]

17. Kidnapping should have been at the top of that list.

I've seen children with bikes that aren't allowed to ride more than 100 yards from the house (why even get them a bike?) because of a deep fear of kidnapping.

[GreenPartyVoter]

86. I confess to having that one, although I am better now that the kids are older. Too much crime TV

sent me over the edge, I'm afraid.

[pipi_k]

18. OK so for someone

as riddled with phobias as I am, I'm proud to say that the only thing on that list that truly terrifies me is flying in an airplane.

The icky germs thing...well, not terrified, exactly, but I do take precautions because I hate being sick with a cold or the flu.


The rest...nahhhh

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. "The urban legend of cell signals lighting gas fires" - spread by gas stations, in the UK at least

Some time more than a decade ago, I saw a sign on the counter in the station informing me that it was illegal to have a phone switched on in the pump area - even inside a car, the wording implied. I asked the attendant what law this was, and he hadn't the faintest idea, nor could he explain what he'd do if he saw someone with a working phone. So the sign was pretty pointless (as I told him). It's a long time since I've seen such a sign, so I guess someone came to their senses. But this 'urban legend' was spread by at least one company in charge of gas stations here, claiming there was a law about it (which I've never been able to find).

[Logical]

20. Wow, that is funny. People are gullible. n-t

[Chan790]

35. I'm going to tell you first-hand...

the urban legend isn't an urban legend.

I've seen it first-hand, it's remote and requires a very specific set of circumstances...but a cell phone can ignite gas fumes. It's not the signal that does it, it's the discharge of electricity from the battery or the buildup of static electricity causing a spark, usually the result of an overcharged battery and a old-and-damaged phone which now contains a short.

Someone's talking on their phone, the fumes complete a circuit and :nuclear:.

It works just like the "one button" spark-ignition on a BBQ grill.

[muriel_volestrangler]

42. "usually the result of an overcharged battery and a old-and-damaged phone"

So there's a study on this that showed that conclusion? Can you say where you read it? And how does static electricity build up on a phone as opposed to other objects, which we're not warned to take to forecourts (and how would switching a phone off discharge this static)?

[Chan790]

46. No. I saw it first hand.

A demonstration of how it occurs, followed by the rapid ignition of a mannequin. Hands-on science, yo.

I don't know. I'm not a scientist, just a nerd who doesn't turn down the opportunity to see cool shit like mannequins torched and exploding phones. I just know that it's not an urban legend, any more than any other rare fluke occurrence that can actually occur.

[muriel_volestrangler]

49. But that doesn't mean you know it's "usually the result of ..."

You saw one instance, in which I presume someone had overcharged the battery of an old-and-damaged phone, before doing what - filling a car in a simulated forecourt, with a mannequin next to them, followed by them retiring, and doing what? Calling the phone on the mannequin?

If you saw one demonstration, how can you give 2 explanations - "discharge of electricity from the battery or the buildup of static electricity causing a spark"? What was it you saw - some kind of discharge (what kind?), or buildup of static electricity (built up how? Was someone rubbing the phone?)

[Chan790]

52. Because they explained it before they did it.

You didn't get to do cool shit like burn a dummy in "Applied Science in the Modern World"?

(It's science class for people not majoring in science who can't pass the hard math (like calculus) to take serious science classes like "Intro to Chemistry" or "Fundamentals of Physics".) I'm basically clueless at the entirety of STEM. Boring as hell too.

...and yeah, that's pretty much how the demonstration went down when they did it, the way you described it. Also, no. They just put the phone in the hand of the dummy and called it and...
"whoooooooosh!"...

Fire. Then they sprayed it with fire-extinguishing foam stuff.

[muriel_volestrangler]

55. "Also, no." That means I can't understand what you're saying

What are you saying 'no' to? That someone at your university had a gas pump and car that they could use, with a mannequin, and then caused an explosion, just for a class? How close was the mannequin to the filling point of the car? What else caught fire in the explosion? The gas pump? The car? What happened the way I suggested, and what is the 'no' about?

How much had they overcharged the phone? Why did you trust them when they say it's usually from overcharged batteries on old-and-damaged phones, when no-one else thinks that?

[bobalew]

78. Perhaps some electrical engineering & chaos theory can help explain this as a possibility:

Most Cell phones have a 7.2 volt battery ( 2 X 3.7 volt Lithium cells in series).
The Older clamshell designs actually have a power switch attached to the cover, to turn on/ off the main functions.
Some models have a snap-switch with which to control power.
The Power-on circuit has a standard capacitor & /or a filter coil circuit on the power input circuit. This can generate a reverse EMF spark.
The act of turning ON, the Cell Phone, or Turning it OFF, CAN generate that small spark around & about the switch Contacts when these events occur. If there is enough Air & Gas fumes near these events: Whoosh!, ignition occurs.

This is where the Chaos theory comes in: The remote chance of these conditions being in good statistical alignment is remote, but REAL.
So Thoughtlessly answering your clamshell design, or snap-switch phone while pumping gas, or in proximity of that activity can statistically align to create this type of disaster.
The chances of it occurring has been greatly reduced by the capacitive touch screen technology, as in say, IPhones. But home screen & power buttons STILL have the possibility of this as a problem.
It is better to act in the mode of caution, than take a chance, or operate in wholesale ignorance of the possibility, and say it will NEVER happen. it CAN.

[muriel_volestrangler]

83. This isn't about 'theory', it's about a demonstration at a university

which the university claimed reproduced the environment on a forecourt, and showed how easy it is for a phone to ignite an explosion -it happened the one time Chan790 saw it demonstrated (although on actual forecourts, no-one on the internet has ever been able to dig up an example of it happening).

To be honest, I suspect the demonstration wasn't anything like a filling station forecourt - Chan790 has not provided any details at all. I suspect they may have seen something like a demonstrator pouring gasoline on the ground, and then using a phone to ignite the vapour directly above it, rather than having a gas pump going into a tank. So it wouldn't actually prove anything at all, and the "usually from overcharged old phones" is complete bollocks, because no-one has ever done such research to find the most common circumstances.

[Silent3]

95. It's sounding a bit like an episode of Mythbusters when a myth is "busted"...

...but then, just for the hell of it, Jamie and Adam create a worst-case scenario, then make it even worse than that in a very deliberate way, ensuring the viewers all get to see a satisfying explosion.

[muriel_volestrangler]

97. Well, that's the thing - Mythbusters tried the 'igniting by phone' thing, and couldn't

Using one’s cell phone while pumping gas/petrol can cause an explosion.

busted

A properly-working cell phone poses almost no danger of igniting gasoline, even when surrounded by gasoline vapor with the optimum fuel-air mix for ignition. The actual risk comes from an electrostatic discharge between a charged driver and the car, often a result of continually getting into and out of the vehicle.

(This myth was revisited in episode 14 and it was busted again.)

http://mythbustersresults.com/episode2

Same for the University of Kent, and BP's fire safety officer: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4366337.stm

and 'Brainiac: Science Abuse' also couldn't get mobile phones to set of an explosion:

Another example was an experiment to see if a ringing mobile phone in a petrol station could ignite the station. They did this by filling a caravan with petrol vapour, setting a mobile phone in the caravan and calling it. That didn't work, so they tried it with more mobile phones. It still didn't work. So they came up with another idea: to test if nylon clothes would do the trick. They then got a Brainiac (the name they give to the people who perform, examine and test experiments) in nylon clothing do a silly dance in a bucket and then touch a wire leading to the caravan. Kaboom!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-london/plain/A32873844

That's why I doubt this university can demonstrate it reliably and realistically.

[WillowTree]

21. Well thanks a LOT. I never worried about the swallowing a spider thing until you mentioned it.

[Logical]

26. LOL, me too. I had never heard that one. n-t

[Motown_Johnny]

22. I have no worries at all about 3,4,5,6,7,8 or 9

I never give them a second thought


11 does not really apply. I have not be in an ocean in decades and I have no plans to do so again. I would call a cab long before hitchiking and bacteria can cause illness. Also my Mother had arthritis so I do worry about it and even a slight chance that cracking knuckles might cause it worries me (but does not terrify me).

[ohheckyeah]

23. The only thing on that list I've ever given

two thoughts to be terrified of it is flying. I hate flying. I keep thinking about being in a big cigar shaped tin can being catapulted through the air. The last time I flew we hit turbulence that was so bad there were drinks flying through the air.

[OnionPatch]

25. If you have a phobia of heights, reason doesn't sooth you all that much.

I'm like you. Mentally I know that flying is safe but some primal feeling deep inside just doesn't like it a bit, no matter how much reasoning I do with myself. I decided to just respect that and take the train.

[ohheckyeah]

27. It's safe until it isn't safe.

The chance of a plane crash may be low, but the chance of walking away from one is lower.

I didn't used to be afraid of flying....I don't know what happened. Not to mention the hassle of security now. OMG.

I'd rather take a train or drive.

About vaccinations - I'm not scared of the vaccine, I HATE needles.

[OnionPatch]

70. Funny, I was never afraid of flying, either.

I've flown to many places around the world, usually requesting a window seat so I could check out the landmarks with my atlas in hand. Somewhere in late, middle age, I developed a fear of heights. It's just a way I would really hate to go, falling out of the sky for many minutes to a certain death. I'd rather it was over with more quickly, as in a car accident or something, if I had to choose.

I've fallen in love with train travel. And if I have to fly and can't take a train, I take a Xanax.

None of the other things on that list really frighten me that much.

[ananda]

24. Number 1 still gets me.

That's because of those Texas serial killers who
took a young UT student who was hitchhiking.
I taught across the hall from his sister for a
couple of years. That affected me.

[MineralMan]

28. I used to hitchhike all the time during the mid to late 1960s.

First, while I was in the USAF. I had no car, and had lots of places I wanted to go. I'd put on my uniform, stick my thumb out, and hold a sign saying where I was headed. I don't think I ever waited more than ten minutes before catching a ride. For longer distance trips, I'd thumb to a busy on-ramp where traffic might be going my way, then show my sign and my thumb. Typically, I'd get a single ride all the way to my destination. One time, I was heading from Syracuse, NY to Columbus, OH. A few minutes after I got to the on ramp, some guy in a straight truck stopped. The driver said, "I have a delivery in Columbus. Hop-in."

It never failed, and I met some interesting people while hitching rides. I never had any problems, and hitched my way all over the northeast. It was a reliable way to get places. So reliable, that I didn't even allow a lot of extra time when returning to wherever I was based. I always made it in plenty of time.

Later, when I returned to college, I lived about 12 miles from school, and hitched both directions every day. Still no car. Often, I rode with the same people, who were also heading there. I made some good friends, and finally bought a car. After I did, I always stopped for anyone thumbing.

Best hitchiking story of all, though: My first wife and I were still in school, and had taken up skiing. On one trip, our car broke down about 100 miles from home. I knew what was wrong with it, but didn't have the tools or parts to fix it. We stopped at an offramp from I-5, and parked the failing car near a gas station. We left the skis on top of the car, grabbed a suitcase, and walked across the street, where another gas station was, with traffic on its side heading where we needed to go. I just asked drivers if they were heading to where we were going and if we could ride along, explaining our breakdown. The first person I asked took us right to our front door. The next day, I thumbed my way back to the broken car, with the part and the tools I needed, and drove home, after fixing the car. The skis and everything else were still there. No muss, no fuss, and not even much delay.

[Logical]

29. Great story......

I have heard dozens of stories like that. Shame it is no longer true. n-t

[MineralMan]

30. I haven't thumbed a ride in many many years,

nor have I encountered any hitchhikers for a long time. I suppose it's no longer a valid means of transportation.

Too bad, really. I really did meet some interesting people while hitching.

[Logical]

31. And helped a lot of people also. n-t

[MineralMan]

32. Giving a stranger a lift is a good thing to do.

I just haven't seen anyone looking for a ride lately.

[Springslips]

60. Now a days it is done....

Via the internet, especially Craiglist. Checkout the rideshare link in CL. There is an interesting documentary on Netflix about it.

I came if age in the 1990; it was then that I wanted to take a hitchhiking trip after reading On The Road. But the urban legends and media spread fears kept me from it. I still may do so some day, despite aging.

[MineralMan]

67. In the 60s, the risks were the same, but incidents were

Not publicized in the same way then. Local stories stayed local. Today, if a bad thing happens to a hitchhiker, it makes national news. That makes people think it happens all the time and everywhere. Too bad.

[GreenPartyVoter]

87. I tried thumbing a ride last fall here in a tiny town. I am a fat middle aged lady, but

I don't think I look dangerous at all. However a dozen cars passed me by, and easily half of those drivers averted their eyes as they did so.

The people who finally picked me up knew me.

[MineralMan]

94. Yes. People are far less likely to stop these days.

I guess I understand it, but it's too bad, really.

[thucythucy]

39. I hitch hiked while in college

until I was raped.

Haven't done it since. I've walked a dozen or more miles in the pouring rain, rather than take a chance on that ever happening again.

Sorry to be such a mood-buster, but I think hitch hiking will forever be on my list of things to fear.

The other items: not a problem.

[MineralMan]

40. I can certainly understand your fear of it.

I'm sure that I wouldn't have hitched as much if I were a woman. And that's a very sad comment to have to make. I have given rides to many women who were hitchhiking, though. They were safe with me.

[thucythucy]

53. "They were safe with me."

Thank you for that. And thank you for understanding.

Best wishes.

[etherealtruth]

33. I am terrified of flying ... but, I realize it is irrational

(alcohol eases the terror).

I have real issues with "icky bacteria" and refuse to acknowledge that it is irrational

[zappaman]

34. And this...

[etherealtruth]

44. Icky bacteria covers it

[zappaman]

50. Thanks!

I actually laughed out loud!

[a la izquierda]

36. If I could fly the plane, I'd love it.

I hate traveling by bus as well. Trains bother me considerably less, but is still like a beer while traveling on them.
For me, it's a control thing if my life is at stake. But generally a Xanax is enough to mellow me out. It has to be. I'll be on a plane every month this year., including multiple trans-Atlantic flights for the very first time. I'm not so scared that I won't experience life.

[KentuckyWoman]

37. That's a young people's list - and none of those things are on my old timer list

1. Living through a massive disabling stroke or head injury.
2. Outliving my finances.
3. Whatever nursing home is in my future.
4. Medical errors
5. Being screwed by fix it people
6. The Government

[femmocrat]

66. + 1000

# 7. Alzheimers disease.

[GreenPartyVoter]

89. Good point!

[CFLDem]

38. Only thing for me is sharks.

There's just something unsettling about now being able to see whats in the water. Especially when you're swimming in the shark bite capital of the world.

[Atman]

43. #11 - Sharks. I personally know three people who have been severely bitten by sharks.

One of them was even a family member, my cousin, who received 128 stitchesI guess it all depends upon where you live. People in Montana probably have a zero chance, but I grew up in Cocoa Beach...Brevard County, Florida is either #1 or #2 in the world for shark attacks. It has a lot to do with the warm, murky Atlantic and the abundance of targets -- surfers. In the years I surfed I saw many sharks. You just have to know how to deal. Like, stay calm but get the hell to shore as quickly and quietly as possible. Also, we relied on the buddy system...if you see a shark, paddle like a mofo and let him eat your buddy!

[rug]

45. I would put terrorism on the top of that list.

[doc03]

47. The Republican list of some of their fears

taxes
gays
strangers
people of a diifferent race
government
terrorists
people on food stamps
people on welfare
abortions
people that aren't Christians
gun grabbers
intellegent people
home invations

[GreenPartyVoter]

91. +1000

[GeorgeGist]

48. 30 seconds of my life I'll never get back.

[Logical]

54. Ahhhh....whining about the DU. Nap time? n-t

[Marr]

56. I'm not afraid of any of those things. Just zombies.

[bobalew]

80. It's NOT the Zombie Apocalypse, it's the METH HEAD apocalypse.

The Zombies are just a symbolic representation of the Methamphetamine Outbreak we're experiencing currently. Very little difference, except they eat their own "Brains" & steal your stuff to maintain their horrid habits. It's mostly in rural america, these days, but will spread to the cities, if not already in the major Inner cities. Get ready folks! Our small city & county resources are already stretched to the max because of these people, almost the point that violent offenders such as assault & battery, aren't getting arrested, only cited, because all the meth-heads are already taking up that space. The lack of mental heath faculties, shut down by saint Reagan, further complicates matters. City jails have taken the place of the Loony bin.

[stuntcat]

58. helpful infographic!! -Here's A Fact About Sharks And Humans That I hope you will remember ->

http://www.upworthy.com/heres-a-fact-about-sharks-and-humans-thatll-stay-with-you-every-hour-on-the-hour-today?g=2

(Guess we can all look forward to the end of this century when most sharks, whose species have lived on Earth much longer than humans have, will be driven to extinction!!! YAY, go humans )

[reformist2]

59. I'm still scared of teflon. And I'm still a little leery about the microwave oven.

[zabet]

74. I retired from the global

chemical company that invented/makes teflon. I know how it is made and trust me, I don't use any pots or pans with teflon coating. Other applications for it are generally OK......I just won't use it on anything that gets hot.
I really cannot get into the chemistry to explain it because that is considered 'Proprietary Process Information" that belongs to the company. I could actually lose my retirement if I got caught divulging any of their dirty secrets....and they have lots.

[reformist2]

75. Scary!

[jeff47]

77. I didn't work for them....

So I can say the problems generally start around 500 degrees. Which is not that difficult to reach on a stovetop.

The main problem is overheating teflon releases highly toxic gas.

[zabet]

99. This is generally true for new products....

Teflon in a pan to cook with goes through multiple heat-up/cool-down cycles in its life. The teflon doesn't stay as 'new'. The conctant heat/cold cycling can damge even teflon coated pots that haven't been scratched by metal cooking utensils. If you damage the teflon by using the metal utensils, the integrity of the teflon is compromised much more quicky.
The data the chemical company releases on this product is true to a point....it is the results of the 'succesful' studies the company paid to have done.
This company is so unscrupulous, they dumped a know birth defect causing chemical into a river that supplied every small town all the way to the coast. From that plant to the coast.....is the highest concentration of a certain severe birth defect in the US. 99% of the cases happened after the 'spill'. This plant dumped this poison for 11 months and when the EPA shut them down....the plant fixed the leak and went back to work. EPA had to sue to get fine paid.
This company takes care of "ONE" child in the area with this defect.....child of an employee I worked with who was unfortunate enough to live downstream of operations and be pregnant at the same time.
I worked there, retired from there, but there is very little of their different products I will trust.

[GreenPartyVoter]

92. Shoot. Most of my cookware is nonstick.

[femmocrat]

63. Not one of those things scares me.

OTOH, heights terrify me.

[Blue_In_AK]

64. Those things are all fine by me.

I used to hitchhike all over the place when I was younger. There were a couple of "iffy" moments, but I managed to talk myself out of any trouble.

[Dash87]

71. Others:

- Spiders: Of the spiders that can actually pierce your skin with their bite, most won't even bite you despite even being poked and prodded, and within the ones that will, only a few are actually poisonous.

- Bumblebees: They can sting, but are mostly too passive to hurt you. Just trap them and let them go outside. Despite their size, they're pretty much gentle giants. While I wouldn't recommend it, you can literally pet their furry body and they won't sting. Killing them inside your house is pointless because you would actually have to put effort into getting stung, and they're easily captured and let go.

- Terrorists: You have a better change of getting struck by lightning.

- Planes: Your daily commute is more dangerous.

[tabbycat31]

72. I'm incredibly afraid of bees

I run like a little kid whenever one is anywhere near me. Then again I'm also highly allergic to bee stings and one will land me in the ER.

[Logical]

79. Great points! nt

[MO_Moderate]

76. Being shot

[Tree-Hugger]

81. Sharks should be terrified of us nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

84. Numbers 2 and 3 for sure. I know people who are coping with MRSA. It's bad. And I have personally

awakened to having spiders in my mouth. Did not swallow them, but the in my mouth bit was bad enough!

And maybe still 1. I don't think I will advise my kids to take up hitchhiking.

[baldguy]

90. Add Pit Bulls

[GreenPartyVoter]

96. Or whatever breed of dog is the scary one of the day.

[ProfessorGAC]

93. Still Not Hitchhiking

I get that it's not a fact based concern, but i'm still not doing it.
GAC

[B2G]

98. Hitchhiking is NOT a good idea

and neither is picking one up.

[Shrike47]

101. Not really worried about any of those things, and I've had MRSA.

If you're terrified all the time, you're miserable.

But I don't plan on hitch hiking.