24 Tips and Tricks That Feel Illegal To Know
PocketEpiphany
Published
12/29/2023
in
ftw
We all have access to the sum total of human knowledge via our phones. And most of that knowledge is no big deal. Some knowledge is secret, though. So secret, it feels practically illegal to know it! And here are just a few of our favorite illicit secrets.
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1.
When a satellite television service updates your programming, the "change" signal is only sent for a day or two. Satellite bandwidth is finite and expensive.So if you were to upgrade your service to get all the channels, disconnect your hardware after they all showed up, then called to downgrade and waited a few days, your system will miss the "downgrade" signal and it could be years before any changes get made that would correct your lineup. -
2.
Read a personal finance book that recommended calling your providers once a year (credit card companies, TV/internet providers, cell phone companies, etc) and demand a lower rate or price. I’ve been following that advice for two years and have not been denied once.Last week I saw a commercial for my internet provider offering a super low introductory rate so I called to demand that I get that rate. They said no problem and now I save an extra $700 a year because of a 5-minute call. I am a very passive introvert so it’s not the easiest or comfortable thing but the money I save is worth it. They may so no initially but if you ask a few times or ask to speak to their supervisor they very usually give in. -
3.
Creating Nitrogen triiodide. When in liquid form it is stable but once it dries so much as a fly landing on it creates a purple smoke explosion. It's so unstable that alpha radiation can be used to detonate the stuff.It's actually easy to get the materials and create the stuff. Filled my high school hallway stairs with purple smoke on the last day of school. -
4.
It is legal to grow opium poppies in the United States, but only if you don't know they can be used to make drugs. -
5.
I don't know if it's still a thing, but if you listen to Pandora radio, the songs download into your temp folder under your browser. Just add the. Mp4 after it and you can play it.I spent lots of college listening to Pandora, and if I liked a song I'd save it. If you paused the song in time, then the most recent song was the top one in the temp folder. -
6.
You can ask scientists for their research papers that you usually have to pay money to view in a journal. They are allowed to just email it to you no questions asked and they like to do it! -
7.
When companies ask for your name/age/gender/race/occupation/salary/etc. you can just lie.You’ll never be able to remove the information about yourself off the internet, but you can muddy the water quite a bit. -
8.
Hospitals have but don’t tell you about a program to reduce your bills depending on how much you make. You can go to their website and find a usually hidden link for financial assistance policies and really cut your bill down. -
9.
1284x is a Ford fleet key. Not chipped, can be found on Amazon for $7 and is perfectly legal to replicate.Searching "1284x" filetype:.pdf site:.govWill pull government bids that involve that key, and also show you what agencies you could open up or drive away a police car. -
10.
In Canada, you can record any conversation with someone without their knowledge, unless it is in furtherance of an offense.I had to do this with an auto restoration shop in order to do a Visa chargeback when they did nothing to my car but steal parts for almost a year (Curtis Customs in Nova Scotia - I don’t mind mentioning them because there are already news stories about their scams) -
11.
You can ask the FBI if they have a file on you -
12.
Crystal meth isn’t particularly difficult to synthesize and you can possibly have a cheap knock off using materials available in a high school chemistry lab. -
13.
90% of home locks are easily pickable with a little know-how and a couple pieces of metal. -
14.
Police are allowed to lie to you. So are military recruiters. -
15.
Most large retail employers don’t have a policy against recording your interactions with your bosses. -
16.
In regards to military-grade bombs and missiles, it takes actual effort to make one go off on the ground. Like, you literally have to go out of your way to arm the fuse, then sit around for a timer to detonate said bomb.It's not like in the movies, where a soft breeze or some nutjob with a hammer, will make a bomb just explode for no reason. -
17.
Aluminum foil can block the theft detection signals in supermarkets. -
18.
Well, I gave my 9th-grade chemistry class a detailed report on diacetylmorphine (heroin) for a project about organic molecules, including how to make it. It was pretty interesting to do and fun to present, but I feel like I broke the law somehow. -
19.
You can go anywhere so long as you're carrying a ladder. -
20.
That North Korea is the primary exporter of synthetic drugs to Europe -
21.
When you have a debt with a collection agency you can pay the debt and then call back a few weeks later and say, “I was told when I called and paid that you’d remove this from my credit score.” And then you ask for documentation saying they’re gonna do it. Apparently, collection agencies don’t keep super good records on stuff like that; they just want your money. It worked for me, and I hope it can work for you if you need it in the future. -
22.
Well. I'm in med school. and funny enough. learning how to not kill a person involves learning about a ton of ways to kill a person. -
23.
If you rent out your home for 14 or fewer days a year, you do not have to pay taxes on this income….Section 280A(g) of the Internal Revenue Code -
24.
The last airplane you rode was likely assembled with parts not fully conforming to QC standards but passed through inspection anyways.
When a satellite television service updates your programming, the "change" signal is only sent for a day or two. Satellite bandwidth is finite and expensive.So if you were to upgrade your service to get all the channels, disconnect your hardware after they all showed up, then called to downgrade and waited a few days, your system will miss the "downgrade" signal and it could be years before any changes get made that would correct your lineup.
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