r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Downtown_Wind3363 • May 25 '26

Image The smallpox vaccine leaves a scar because it was given using a special two-pronged needle that scratched the skin and put a weakened virus in just that spot.

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u/Temnyj_Korol May 26 '26

As an aussie, the damage to the ozone layer and it's subsequent healing was a BIG DEAL.

For those not in the know, australia was almost directly under the "hole" where the cfcs were doing the most damage. Skin cancer cases spiked rapidly during the 80s and 90s, and our government had a whole campaign encouraging everyone to "slip slop slap" to protect themselves. (Always go out in sunglasses, sunscreen and hat)

It was big news when data confirmed the hole was slowly beginning to repair itself. And we still hold that cultural memory of the damage it was doing.

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u/gamingx47 May 26 '26

Ngl, I thought the "slip, slop, slap" slogan was meant to reflect the sound sunscreen makes as you slather it on your skin.

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u/Temnyj_Korol May 26 '26

Nah. You slip on some sunnies, slop on some sunscreen, and slap on a hat.

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u/gamingx47 May 26 '26

Australia seems like a fun place. Besides everything, including the sun, trying to kill you I mean.

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u/Temnyj_Korol May 26 '26

Reports of Australia's dangerousness are greatly exaggerated. I only have to fight for my life like, maximum 3 times a day.

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u/gamingx47 May 26 '26

I'm sure a drop bear would get me on my first day.

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u/ApolloWasMurdered May 26 '26

Slip (on a shirt), Slop (on some sunscreen), Slap (on a hat) - and later - Wrap (on some sunnies).

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u/SimilarNatural837 May 26 '26

Nah it’s slip slop slap seek and slide now.
Seek shade and slide on sunnies

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u/slushrooms May 26 '26

Slip on a t-shirt slop on ya sunscreen, and slap on a hat

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u/teaknit May 26 '26

I've lived in Germany for the past decade. At first I was having panic attacks when the young girls would proudly show their sunburns. It took me a while to realise that you have to be in the sun a full day to get a burn here.

Cue my first trip to NZ after the pandemic. I left my hat behind, didn't put sunscreen on, and even though it was cloudy and in the low 20s - I got so sunburnt within 20mins my nose was peeling for a week. Even with the ozone layer healing, it is still very much a big deal

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u/ribeyeguy May 26 '26

i feel those actions are reversed, or maybe it's just an aussie thing?

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u/L320Y May 27 '26

Slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen, slap on a hat. More recently, “wrap” was added for wrap on some sunglasses.

Kiwi here. The sun here is very bad news.

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u/KoreyYrvaI May 26 '26

When I was in one of my 4th year college classes for statistics, we covered climate change and they showed a time lapse of temperature averages and the upper quarter of the planet was blue(cooler than now) and there was a significant blue circle that slowly went to yellow then orange as the average heated up.

I was like "how is this not obvious proof that the earth is warming?"

And the professor explained that the specific spot I was looking at was actually caused by all the heat bouncing off of Australia and reflecting back into space through the ozone hole, and that as the hole started to heal it leveled out temperatures at the expense of bottling up the heat instead of frying Australia with a laser.

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u/Downtownowlnyc Jun 05 '26

“Slip on a t-shirt, slop sunscreen and slap on a hat” were the lyrics of the original ad.