Bizarre Findings From Research Polls

#1 Murder Fantasies Are Common

Apparently having thoughts about killing someone is quite common. A study showed that over 5,000 people were asked if they had ever thought about murdering another human, and the response was overwhelming. 97% of men and 85% of women say that they have regularly fantasized about murdering someone. The same survey showed that men were more likely to act on their homicidal thoughts than women were, thus making the actual rate of murders and killers amongst males more prevalent than those of females. It was later discovered that out of the over 5,000 people surveyed, 350 had already committed murder.

#2 Bacon Beats Sex

Canadian bacon is scrumptious, to say the least, but is it actually better than having sex? To their amazement, a Canadian bacon manufacturer decided to find out the answer and could not believe the results. The question was simple, they asked participants whether they would rather have bacon or sex. The average came out to 43 percent of people choosing bacon over boning. The study also found that 82 percent of those who opted for bacon over sex said that they consider themselves to be good lovers, and 81 percent of bacon-choosers said that they consider themselves to be very romantic. Choosing bacon over a partner sure doesn't sound very romantic, does it?

#3 Tech Language Is Confusing

With technology changing so fast, it's no wonder people can't keep up with all the new terms, lingo, and jargon related to tech items. A new study shows that almost 13% of Americans think that the tech language HTML is actually a venereal disease. And it gets worse. 2,700 people over the age of 18 participated in the survey by matching several tech and non-tech-related words with a selection of possible definitions. It's hard to believe, but here are some of the crazy results: 42 percent believed that a motherboard was actually the deck of a cruise ship, 27 percent believed that a gigabyte was a type of South American insect, 18 percent thought a Blu-ray was a marine animal, and 12 percent thought "USB" was an acronym for a European country.

The results were so astonishing that tech companies believed the survey was actually a spoof or hoax, though the company conducting it is well trusted and insists the results are legitimate.

#4 The Sun Goes Around The Earth

A survey conducted in 2012 asked 2,200 participants, "Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth?" The results were rather horrifying. It seems that 56 percent of those surveyed answered incorrectly. The survey also recorded that a mere 39 percent of respondents believe in the big bang theory, and less than half believe that humans evolved from earlier species of animals.

The study asked nine questions about science and concluded that the average number of correctly answered questions was around 6.5. Surprisingly, participants actually did better on this study than in similar ones conducted in Europe years earlier. In 2005, surveyors asked people in the EU the same Earth-Sun question and found that 74 percent of participants answered incorrectly. They did know profoundly, however, the theory of evolution.

#5 Sex With A Robot

One in five people say they would have sexual intercourse with a robot if given the chance. These results are not unimaginable, however, since there are already robotic devices for performing sex and virtual reality programs that are very realistic. As technology progresses, copulation between humans and robots is no longer only in the realm of science fiction. Almost 50% of those asked said they would not judge anyone who admitted to having sex with an android or robotic device, which is good news for Japan. An emerging movement known as Otaku centers on men having romantic relationships with virtual women rather than real ones. The clinics are supposed to teach 16- to 24-year-olds how to perform with a live person, but the technology has already become widespread throughout the country, where it is illegal to create any object for sexual pleasure that is penis or vagina shaped. Instead, they rely on animated devices and realistic appearing robots that they insist are for teaching purposes.

#6 Smarter Than The Average American

People around the world no longer believe Americans are the brightest crayons in the box. A 2015 survey determined that around 55 percent of Americans believe that they are smarter than the average American. In addition, about 34 percent stated that they believe they're as smart as the average person in general, while only four percent rated themselves as having below-average intelligence. Incidentally, no questions regarding arrogance were asked of participants. This is quite different from results obtained from a survey in the EU, where people were asked which country had the smartest population. Overwhelmingly, Japan and Korea ranked at the top, with America, 44th on the list.

The facts are very clear, however. The US education system ranks 14th in the world and 20th on the scale of educational attainment. 34% of individuals do not complete high school. Despite Americans' confidence regarding their genius, many tech companies are having a very difficult time finding the talent they're looking for among US applicants. Companies like Facebook and Google are pleading with the government to relax immigration laws so that they can have a bigger pool of candidates for highly specialized technical positions.

#7 Save The Dog, Forget The Stranger

People love their pets, but do they value their animals more than a human life? Apparently, many do. A 2014 study found that 40 percent of subjects would save their dog from a burning building over a foreign stranger. Other scenarios included saving either the dog (theirs or someone else's) versus a hometown stranger, a grandparent, a best friend, a cousin, or a sibling. The number of people who opted to save the dog over a person they didn't know or barely knew was overwhelmingly high.

The study was conducted on over 500 individuals and of those who chose to save their pet, 46 percent were women. This study shows that the relationship between humans and animals is extremely strong and can be traced back to the birth of animal welfare societies in the 19th century. Should this hypothetical scenario ever occur, dogs certainly have nothing to fear.

#8 The 'Cloud' Is A Real Cloud

When asked about cloud computing in a recent survey, many participants actually thought they were being asked about weather rather than computing. Almost 51 percent believed that the cloud is related to either weather, drugs, toilet paper, or pillows. The results also showed that 24% of those who said they understood the cloud, really had no idea what it was. Although many individuals seem to be in the dark about what the cloud actually is, the survey showed that 97 percent of those who took the poll are actually using the cloud in everyday life.

For anyone still having trouble understanding this dense topic, the name "cloud" is a metaphor rather than an actual cloud. The idea is that one is able to access remotely hosted data from their smart device. It has nothing to do with literal clouds.

#9 Vegetarians Lie About Not Eating Meat

This is a strange one. When a recent poll asked over 10,000 people about their vegetarianism it showed that around six percent of Americans identify as vegetarians. However, when asked what the supposed "vegetarians" had consumed in the last 24 hours, 60 percent answered that they'd had poultry, red meat, or fish.

Another survey conducted simultaneously, in which over 13,300 people participated, showed that of the 600 or so who defined themselves as vegetarians, nearly 65 percent still admitted to eating some meat on a regular basis. Furthermore, 84 percent of vegetarians denounced their lifestyle and became full-blown meat eaters once again after just a few months of trying to go without eating meats or fish.

#10 Wealthy Panhandlers In Oregon

When the police in Coos Bay, Oregon began to notice quite a few panhandlers outside of a local Walmart they got a little suspicious. They did a bit of investigating and found that some individuals asking for money were bringing in more than $300 per day. That same year, a reporter from the Oregon Mail Tribune wrote a piece on a couple who described themselves as "affluent beggars" and said that they earn anywhere from $300 to $600 in a single day. The couple was also receiving $500 a month in food stamps.

The Tribunes survey of "beggars" on Oregon's streets showed that more than 76% of those who had signs or placards saying they were hungry or homeless, had a substantial income. They discovered that one man who quit his minimum wage job was making about $3 a day more from panhandling on the streets than he was working an 8-hour shift. In Oregon, panhandling is legal as long as no privacy or traffic laws are being broken in the process, making it popular for people in need. However, the study showed that the average street beggar was raking in about $900 a week in tax-free extra income.