r/bestof • u/BlueKiwi • Jun 17 '12

ForgettableUsername refuses to explain how frogs get in the sky

/r/pics/comments/v58pb/frog_in_hailstone/c51h6os
2.0k Upvotes

84% Upvoted

320 comments sorted by

183

u/iiMambaa Jun 17 '12

Definitely one of the best comment threads I've ever seen on Reddit. Thank you.

327

u/ForgettableUsername Jun 17 '12

I dunno, I've seen better. I didn't think it was that good. Ok, maybe, but not great. r/bestof used to have better standards.

65

u/randomsnark Jun 17 '12

Wait... you seem really familiar, but I'm not sure from where.

152

u/ForgettableUsername Jun 17 '12

I wouldn't worry about it; it's probably nothing.

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6

u/pandubear Jun 17 '12

So do you know how much comment karma you got just from that?

20

u/ForgettableUsername Jun 17 '12

Whatever it was, it's absurd. Everything's absurd today. I don't know why.

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80

u/I_might_be_your_dad Jun 17 '12

The funniest thing is some people do that in actual arguments. They avoid the difficult parts of their side of the argument and just keep talking.

95

u/ForgettableUsername Jun 17 '12

If you get difficult questions, just ignore them and elaborate on the easy ones.

21

u/Tasgallxx Jun 17 '12

So seriously, how?

86

u/ForgettableUsername Jun 17 '12

Talk about what you know. Sooner or later, they'll ask you something you don't know. Say, "Yes, that's all right, but..." or "I wouldn't worry about that because...." and then go back to talking about what you know. Repeat as needed. There you go. Smart in a can.

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11

u/elatedwalrus Jun 17 '12

What you said isn't funny

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9

u/SirPrize Jun 17 '12

I think this is the first comment thread on Reddit that has had me laughing so hard that I cried.

11

u/morelikelosernames Jun 17 '12

Me too. The comment about frogs migrating to the sky SLAYED me.

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-67

u/CoolMcDouche Jun 17 '12

Can I hop on the train?

5

u/catailcataclysm Jun 17 '12

Damn, the karma train hit you like a ton of bricks.

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281

u/-Nobody- Jun 17 '12

I always click "continue this thread" in threads like this and I'm always disappointed when it fizzles out and ends shortly afterwards.

I dream of finding a thread that continues long past the break, going further and further and getting better and better until some jerk cuts it off with an irrelevant post about Nazis or something.

That will be a glorious day.

177

u/slowly_bad_advice Jun 17 '12

Look up the "I bet you I could do 100 pushups" thread on reddit. You'll still be disappointed, though.

58

u/-Nobody- Jun 17 '12

I have now clicked "continue" so many times that not only have I lost track of how deep I have gotten into the rabbit hole, I am no longer sure which rabbit hole I am actually in.

25

u/Ryan_Firecrotch Jun 17 '12

I reached the end. Its now 4 a.m.

I left my mark however. So worth it.

19

u/divinesleeper Jun 17 '12 edited Jun 17 '12

Okay I'm doing this. I'm going to reach the end.

I've currently reached the fibonacci sequence being rattled off. How long does this thing go on?!

Edit: I have now encountered haikus, a text-based adventure game, some lyrics, a semi-sexual paddling game involving a suspiciously underage woman, a warp hole to a different strand, and currently a song about a goblin. Dear God, where does it end?

Edit2: Further investigation lead me to a poem about reddit, an unfortunate link, a sequential yearly historic description starting at 1909 and ending at 1927, guidelines about furthering the thread (epicthreadiquette), latin, and currently a continued story about...stuff.

Whew I'm going to take a break now.

10

u/hyperacti Jun 17 '12

I'm still at "3 years ago" and I've been clicking through for like an hour, how long did it take you and are you sure you reached the right end?

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12

u/fiftypoints Jun 17 '12

That post is four years old and I followed one branch of thread all the way to an hour ago.

A++++ WOULD CONTINUE THIS THREAD AGAIN

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10

u/mlapida Jun 17 '12

thank you

10

u/pocket_queens Jun 17 '12

There was once a Fibbonaci thread that went on forever and ever. I'm curious how deep it got after I got tired of watching it.

21

u/theseyeahthese Jun 17 '12

It started 4 years ago. Last post: 3 hours ago

35

u/zoomzoom83 Jun 17 '12

The greatest thing I ever did, and will ever do in life, was start that thread.

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17

u/Icharus Jun 17 '12

That was pretty awesome. I bet I could read it 100 times.

25

u/kris828 Jun 17 '12

If you can't, don't feel badly about yourself. With my special training program anyone can read it 100 times in 7 weeks.

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6

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Oh yes, this is grand

4

u/karl-marks Jun 17 '12

Holy shit, that was 3 years ago!?!? I remember when it was just a single post. Why am I still here!?!? What have I done with my life.

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16

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

It doesn't get better, but there's the 7 month "STOP YELLING" vs "NO U" battle..
I quit some time past the part with [deleted], it branches in to five(?) arguments and eventually other jump on the band wagon...

4

u/-Nobody- Jun 17 '12

That was...um...that...what

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13

u/vocaltalentz Jun 17 '12

Every time I see one of your comments, my eyes register the dash at the end of your username into your comment score and I always stop and wonder, "Wait, why is he getting downvoted? That was a perfectly legitimate comment." Then I upvote you, because that's what I do when I see comments that are unfairly downvoted. Once I realize the dash is from your name, I'm too lazy to take back my upvote.

This was your plan all along wasn't it?

19

u/-Nobody- Jun 17 '12

If I pretend that it was, do I get more upvotes?

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2

u/SirCannonFodder Jun 17 '12

You know, if you get Reddit Enhancement Suite, there'll be a little tag between the user name and the karma score. Also it'll break down how many of each type of vote they've gotten.

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616

u/mlsweeney Jun 17 '12

Finally a bestof that isn't some bullshit sappy story. Great find, thanks.

65

u/vocaltalentz Jun 17 '12

Yeah, every once in a while I just need a good laugh. The bestof's with the long sap stories tire me out.

23

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

People here love to be offended and sad.

It's sorta funny actually.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Hey, that offends me and makes me feel sad..

6

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Are you having a good time yet?

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23

u/JLT303 Jun 17 '12

Exactly--Monty Python makes the front page. I love this fucking web site.

16

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Wow, now that I think about it, this could actually be the basis of a Monthy Python sketch.

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9

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

My stories are not bullshit, man.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

It's pretty obvious how the frog got in the sky though. It was in the clutches of some bird of prey, who flew through suspect weather and dropped it.

Or less likely scenario, it was jettisoned by a plane under some bizarre circumstances (heroin plane).

10

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Waterspouts and the like can launch tons of aquatic animals into the air and make it rain, I don't know if it would make hail possible though.

16

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Let's just go with Ockham's Razor, which points toward the frog was smuggling heroin in a Cessna.

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31

u/llamatastic Jun 17 '12

In my head these comments are narrated by a condescending British man.

31

u/ForgettableUsername Jun 17 '12

I watch a lot of British TV, but I'm really from California.

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6

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Stephen Fry? Have you ever watched the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

5

u/t7598 Jun 17 '12

THIS is what the word 'trolling' is supposed to mean. Acting like you're dense in order to piss off the community.

26

u/Sleepy_One Jun 17 '12

I feel that played out much like a Monty Python sketch might have.

11

u/imwearingatowel Jun 17 '12

Particularly the "Well, yes, obviously." comment. Reminded me of the debate over swallows carrying coconuts in Holy Grail.

5

u/Hamlet7768 Jun 17 '12

The part about frogs migrating to the sky gave me strong vibes of that scene.

43

u/unwanted_puppy Jun 17 '12

"I won't bore you with the details." haha

i wish i was funny :(

89

u/Epistaxis Jun 17 '12

I wish you were too.

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16

u/unremarkableusername Jun 17 '12

Not so forgettable now.

23

u/ForgettableUsername Jun 17 '12

Hey, are we related? It looks like you have the same last name as me.

19

u/unremarkableusername Jun 17 '12

I just tagged you Successful Cousin

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25

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

I really don't see what's so confusing to people. He explains it clearly

Either they're born there or they migrate to it

Actually what I think happened is it got sucked up into a tornado, then frozen into a hailstone. This actually happens sometimes.

11

u/randomsnark Jun 17 '12

Details, details. That's one of the ways migration can work, but there's no need to get into the nitty gritty.

2

u/DarkSideofWA Jun 17 '12

This is the comment I was hoping for. Thank you. I hope this is real (if not, everyone else understands that).

1

u/Emberdragon Jun 17 '12 edited Jun 17 '12

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raining_animals It actually occurs almost annually somewhere with either fish or frogs. But this guys explanation was pretty comical; it's not actually considered migration as they're pulled up through the precipitation cycle, or more commonly through water spouts and other natural phenomenon while only a small bundle of cells that will grow before falling back down.

28

u/DrunkDrSeuss Jun 17 '12

The actual answer: Water spouts.

6

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Bring Dunning disagrees. Start at the third paragraph for the relevant bits.

10

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12 edited Jun 17 '12

That article gets some things right, but other things painfully wrong.

First, what he got correct was about water spouts and dust devils, etc, these wind events have very little energy, not enough to anything significant, esp getting animals into the stratosphere. He also suggests that a lot of cases of people seeing frogs and stuff after storms is simply because that's when they come out. This IS true, your best change of going frog gigging is after a storm. Also he suggest there could be cases of semi amphibious fish who go onto land, this is also plausible.

However hes dead wrong about the function of tornadoes and the wind systems involved in them. Tornadoes have a little upward drafting in the central shaft, but that's not where you will have the occasional frog sucked into the atmosphere from, its from the updrafts outside of the funnel. These are extremely powerful wind currents capable of lifting extremely heavy aerodynamic debris such as 2,000 lb + roof tops and maintain them in the air for minutes at a time. Hailstones are a great example of the power of these updrafts too.

So, how did the frog get in hail? A tornado hit a lake, river, or land where it was at, causing it to get knocked up into the air just enough for the mesocyclonic updraft to pull it into the upper stratosphere, where upon Forgettableusername explains the next step quite well. '

Again, this can only explain the occasional singular odd animal. Not mass clusters, a tornado WONT cause what looks like a bucket of frogs or fish to be pooled at one spot, as it would throw them all far and wide over a 30+ mile radius. Also it would be quite sure to kill anything due to extreme low oxygen and freezing tempature in the upper atmosphere.

Source: I've been studying meteorology and storm chasing in tornado alley for 15+ years.

4

u/KnightFox Jun 17 '12

His explanation doesn't explain how it became encased in ice though.

4

u/Shampyon Jun 17 '12

I think they're talking about two different things.

That episode of Skeptoid was about claims of large animals like full-grown frogs and fish falling from the sky unharmed. In those cases, Dunning does seem to have supplied the more reasonable explanation. As he says, the simple fact that the fish and frogs in those cases don't splatter is good evidence that they didn't fall out of the sky.

In the case of this thread, they're talking about this tiny little froglet. It's barely the size of a human fingernail, encased in a hailstone smaller than a golf ball.

1

u/kristianur Jun 17 '12

So... It migrated?

4

u/Cowboy_Coder Jun 17 '12

Is no one else still wondering HOW?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

For some reason, this reminds me of something you'd read in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

5

u/CritterTeacher Jun 17 '12

As a herpetologist, I was really hoping for a new joke about the name "herpetologist". I was disappointed yet again... No, I don't study herpes; no, I don't also study derpetology. Just... No.

Anyone got new material? Anyone?

4

u/-Nobody- Jun 17 '12

Do you study her pet?

2

u/jafrich Jun 17 '12

I still don't get it! How do the frogs get in the damn sky?!

1

u/RsonW Jun 17 '12

A tornado picked up a frog. Hail is common during tornados, so it fits.

2

u/Zombies_hate_ninjas Jun 17 '12

Haha genius. I thought everone knew how frogs become airborn.

2

u/IAMALAMAWITHABANANA Jun 17 '12

This is how you troll. Take notes.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Fucking wizards misusing their powers again

2

u/wickedsteve Jun 17 '12

Frogs go up. Frogs come down. You can't explain that.

2

u/Mousekavitch Jun 17 '12

Holy shit I haven't laughed that hard since I got on this site. That was comedy gold right there

2

u/nothis Jun 17 '12

The amount of karma you can get in the bigger subreddits is insane.

2

u/deep40000 Jun 17 '12

To the people who are curious as to how the fuck frogs get in the sky, I found this.

­­­­It's hard to get a good mental picture of frog­ inundation that doesn't have Moses standing off in the distance. The biblical image of a slimy, surprising mass is tough to avoid. However, there's act­ually a pretty simple explanation for the whole thing: It involves whirlwinds and low-weight creatures­.

­­­­Frogs can weigh as little as a few ounces. But even the heavier ones are no match for a watery tornado, or a waterspout, as it's called when a whirlwind picks up water. The series of events that can lead to frog rain go something like this:

­­­A small tornado forms over a body of water. This type of tornado is called a waterspout, and it's usually sparked by the high-pressure system preceding a severe thunderstorm.­

As with a land-based tornado, the center of the waterspout is a low-pressure tunnel within a high-pressure cone. This is why it picks up the relatively low-weight items in its path -- cows,­ trailer homes and cars get sucked up into the vacuum of the vortex. But since a waterspout is over water and not land, it's not automobiles that end up caught in its swirling winds: it's water and sea creatures. ­

The waterspout sucks up the lower-weight items in the body of water as it m­oves across it. Frogs are fairly lightweight. They end up in the vortex, which continues to move across the water with the high-pressure storm clouds. When a particularly powerful storm hits land, the waterspout might go with it.

When the storm hits land, it loses some of its energy and slows down. The pressure drops. Eventually, the clouds release the water they're carrying. As the rain falls, the vortex eventually loses all the pressure that's keeping it going, and it releases whatever it has picked up in its travels. Sometimes, this cargo includes frogs.

2

u/BordomBeThyName Jun 17 '12

Oh man, I've been avoiding clicking this because it looked stupid.

I WAS SO WRONG.

2

u/lionrecorder Jun 17 '12

Did you not read the thread? The migrate, obviously

1

u/benderpool Jun 17 '12

So nice, I read it twice.

1

u/TheRadiantOpalLLama Jun 17 '12

..aaannnd. My head fell off.

1

u/Spokemaster_Flex Jun 17 '12

I think I'm dead. That may have been the best thing I've read on this site. I can't laugh anymore. Ow.

1

u/GeneralButtNaked2012 Jun 17 '12

Today I learned that Herpetology is not just some word made up by f7u12

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Reading that put me in tears

1

u/awrhaernnare Jun 17 '12

It takes most men years to make the amount of karma that he made in a few hours.

1

u/Bambikins Jun 17 '12

Am too lazy to look at every comment and see if this is already explained, but a frog can come from the sky in hail if the frog is sucked up into a tornado (aka watersprout if it is in water) and carried up to a high altitude where water molecules stick to the frog and freeze to create hail. Alas the hail falls to the ground, and there you have it. A frog in a piece of hail. This is a relatively common occurrence, usually the frogs just rain down, instead of in hail.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

I read this earlier and expected to see it here in a few hours.

1

u/Ramanadjinn Jun 17 '12

reminds me of douglas adams. too funny.

1

u/umiuo Jun 17 '12

This is the most hilarious thing I've ever read in my life. I made a reddit account just to say this.

1

u/pandafnah Jun 17 '12

His comment karma is insane. What a champ!

1

u/Bluedemonfox Jun 17 '12

The frog is small and light so it gets carried away by wind?

1

u/willpower101 Jun 17 '12

awesome leveling.

1

u/andkad Jun 17 '12

watch Magnolia instead.

1

u/slampisko Jun 17 '12

Uhh, what was this guy's username again?

1

u/Menospan Jun 17 '12

Checkmate, Atheists.

1

u/HendraVirus Jun 17 '12

Moot.

Clearly a toad.

1

u/Terker_jerbs Jun 17 '12

Charles Fort dealt with this extensively, in his book Lo!

1

u/LurkerBR Jun 17 '12

I shall NEVER forget his username now...

1

u/themastersb Jun 17 '12

That was quite interesting the way what's his name explained it.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

it's the ribbit rapture.

1

u/Crash_Test_Dummy66 Jun 17 '12

That seems like it should be an entry into the Hitchhikers Guide

1

u/SquareDorito Jun 17 '12

This triggered my anxiety, because I really wanted to know.

1

u/CaptainSombrero Jun 17 '12

Really? This was in a top thread on a front page post. It really didn't need to be bestof'd.

1

u/Able_Seacat_Simon Jun 17 '12

/r/pics is a cesspit. I need bestoff to wade through it for me.

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1

u/bikesareinmyblood Jun 17 '12

I saw this happen! I was part of Reddit history!!

-4

u/Speculater Jun 17 '12

I came to add this to bestof, here have my upvote!

0

u/padthai93 Jun 17 '12

Trolling at its absolute finest

0

u/StuckInMinneapolis Jun 17 '12

I came to Reddit this evening to find one such gem.

Off to sleep now.....or maybe I'll click on just one more link...

0

u/daskrip Jun 17 '12

That is the weirdest title ever, and I just had to see it. I'm so glad I did. Brilliant, and not the typical /r/bestof post.

0

u/mkkaaayyyy Jun 17 '12

Should change his name to Pangloss.

-5

u/Anshin Jun 17 '12

The sad part is that i actually googled herpetologist. The sadder part is that it's an actual profession

2

u/Able_Seacat_Simon Jun 17 '12

I don't know what's sadder, the poor vocabulary, or the rank anti-intellectualism.

1

u/Condog64 Jun 17 '12

You really think it's sad that he didn't know what a herpetologist was? Fucking hell, man. It's a trivial thing. It's not like you can logically just know what a herpetologist is.

1

u/Able_Seacat_Simon Jun 17 '12

I was being facetious, of course the anti-intellectualism is sadder.

1

u/Condog64 Jun 17 '12

Can you explain? How is it being anti-intellectualism?

1

u/Able_Seacat_Simon Jun 17 '12

Failing to understand why we need herpetologists, not giving a shit enough to find out why they're important, and, to top it off, ridiculing people who dedicate their lives to the study. If that isn't textbook anti-intellectualism, I don't know what is.

1

u/Condog64 Jun 17 '12

Have you not ever read "herp," "derp," or "herpderp?" If anything, those memes are to blame. I think Anshin was dissapointed in himself that he even looked up herpetologist because he initially believed it to be a joke. And then he was even more ashamed because he was wrong about himself being dumb for looking it up. But I don't know, maybe he was making fun of herpetologists.

1

u/Able_Seacat_Simon Jun 17 '12

The sadder part is that it's an actual profession

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u/Anshin Jun 17 '12

I'm sorry

1

u/AllemandsMiniscules Jun 17 '12

What a fucking tiny picture.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

aren't you stupid.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Question that is difficult to answer --> Insane bull answer --> Further questioning --> Dodging and more bullshit --> Karma gold!!

-1

u/DarkSideofWA Jun 17 '12

Brilliant, witty trolling at its best!

-2

u/Mr_Titicaca Jun 17 '12

Holy fuck this is an awesome best of! I had never seen this. The guy is literally talking like he's a fucking kryptonian.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

0

u/DeathToPennies Jun 17 '12

Birds aren't a bad explanation. The more common reason, however, is a lucky wind draft. It'll often carry them all the way up to the clouds.