People Talk About How They Remind Themselves That Everything Isn’t All Bad

Life is rough and anything but enjoyable right now.

We’re stuck in our houses and apartments. The news is awful every day, and people are struggling in a major way.

But, despite all that, there are things that keep us going and remind us that not everything is bad out there in the world.

These folks on AskReddit had a lot of great and profound things to say.

1. Look to the young ones.

“My youngest daughter Emma. She is 1 1/2 years old and just knows how to enjoy every second of life. She wakes with a smile and goes to bed grinning while holding her Winnie the Pooh.

She falls while walking and just dusts herself off and keeps going. Every time she hears a motorcycle she says, “Ooooooo” and then “vroom vroom.” (while signing motorcycle).”

2. A good role model.

“My mom, she died from cancer at the age of 48 while my sister was addicted to Heroin, my Dad was cheating on her and was going through bankruptcy, regardless she still showed people so much kindness and was a fantastic woman who was always smiling.

I have depression and my life isn’t so great right now but I always tell myself that it can get better and that if my mom could live day to day with a smile on her face so can I and I feel more people going through a terrible time can really use an example like her to at least give them a little push in the right direction.”

3. You did a great job!

“I look at my adult kids. They are happy, successful adults.

Makes me feel satisfied that I did a good job as mom.”

4. Every day is a gift.

“I am in no way a badass and in no way am I score boarding anybody.

Got mortared a few times in Afghanistan. After that, you come to realize that every day above ground is a gift.”

5. This works for me, too.

“I go for a walk.

Sometimes a little sunshine will help ease my anxiety.”

6. It’s true.

“Remembering that statistically speaking, we live in the most peaceful and prosperous time in history, average lifespan is the longest it’s ever been, and the world is slowly yet constantly getting better for everyone regardless of situation.

It may not always look that way, but on average it is true.”

7. Lessons from boot camp.

“In boot camp our drill sergeant told us, “It doesn’t get easier, you get better.”

It’s not what everyone needs to hear all the time, but by golly it’s gotten me though some rough patches.”

8. He’s my rock.

“I got a 4 year old that thinks Im the coolest dad ever. I feel like breaking down all the time, but I couldnt do that to him. Im his rock, but really, he’s mine.”

9. They are the best.

“Just the fact that dogs exist. They are these animals that are about as perfect as a creature can get.

A dog will never cheat on you, it’ll never cut you off in traffic and give you the finger, it’ll never pass you over for that promotion, it’ll never make fun of your weight.

Your dog thinks you look fantastic in that outfit that you bought but were kinda nervous to wear because it’s not your usual look.

Dogs are the best.”

10. That one moment.

“A couple years ago my family was living on a couple acres in a 5 bedroom 3 bath house. Doing very well. I lost my job and we had to move.

We rented a one bedroom. I hated it and felt like a failure. On the day we were moving in I asked my then 7 year old son if he liked our new house. He ran to the bedroom and back, looked right at me with a smile and said, “it’s perfect.”

I think about that moment a lot.”

11. This sounds nice.

“I live in California and am fortunate enough to live 5 mins away from some very beautiful hills and mountains. I dont bring my phone, my wallet, or anything. (Maybe a water bottle at the most) When I am overwhelmed I try to disconnect from everyone and everything.

I hike up, stand at a high place and look at the whole city of human beings down below. All the cars, highways, buildings,etc. Sometimes I go in the middle of the night. Sometimes I go in the morning.

Every time I feel like my life isnt worth it anymore and I go through my suicidal thoughts I just go THERE and somehow on the way back down everything isn’t so bad anymore.”

12. Focus on the positive.

“Lack of money isn’t that big of a deal.

I remember that I have my health, a job I enjoy, and a partner that appreciates me.”

13. Always smiling.

“I volunteered in a Balinese orphanage while in college. Those kids had nothing.

No family, no means, yet always had the biggest smile. I always think of them.”

14. This too shall pass.

“I think of how insignificant I am. Not trying to be edgy it works for me.

Like thinking of how small I am in the world and my problems aren’t that bad and they’ll pass.”

Remember: stay positive and help out your family, friends, and neighbors as much as possible during this tough time.

Talk to us in the comments!

What are you doing to remind yourself that everything isn’t all bad?

The post People Talk About How They Remind Themselves That Everything Isn’t All Bad appeared first on UberFacts.

True Crime Documentaries That Are Just As Crazy As ‘Tiger King’

The market seems a little flooded with true crime documentaries these days because the genre is so popular.

That’s where we come in: we’re here to recommend some great crime docs that you should watch while you’re stuck at home.

The first movie on the list will look very familiar if you’ve been paying attention to any kind of social media lately.

Happy watching!

1. Tiger King

I have something terrible to admit…I still haven’t seen Tiger King. I know, I’m sorry. I’m gonna get around to it soon.

If you haven’t either, we’re in for one hell of a ride. I haven’t heard people rave about a documentary like this before ever in my entire life. It sounds like it has all the key ingredients that make a true crime documentary great!

2. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

When I first saw this film when it was released in 1996, it blew my freaking mind. To this day, it still remains one of my favorite documentaries of all time and I still find myself devouring new articles and TV specials about the case.

Three young boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993 and three local teenagers who were into heavy metal and the occult were blamed for the gruesome killings.

A truly exceptional film.

3. McMillions

This HBO series explores the McDonald’s Monopoly game that we’ve all played at some point and how the whole thing was an elaborate scheme with no winners.

What a weird story!

The series is 6 parts so you know there’s a lot to dig into.

4. Wild Wild Country

This Netflix documentary was a huge hit a couple of years ago. The story concerns an Indian guru named Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who ran a cult-like community in Oregon in the 1980s.

Wild, wild stuff!

5. Abducted in Plain Sight

This is an insane story and it’s almost hard to believe that it’s even true.

A young girl in Idaho was abducted by her next-door neighbor not once, but twice. Then an alien story gets involved and things get really weird.

6. Long Shot

What are the odds of something like this happening…?

A man named Juan Catalan was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. To prove his innocence, Catalan has to prove that he was at an LA Dodgers game the night of the murder…

Oh, and Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm is part of the story, as well. You can’t make this kind of stuff up…

7. Beware the Slenderman

The whole saga of the Slenderman story is just totally bizarre.

If you haven’t heard of it before, here’s the short version: two 12-year-old girls lured a friend of theirs into the woods in Wisconsin and stabbed her.

The young girl lived, and it was revealed that the girls tried to kill their friend as an offering to “Slenderman”, an Internet legend that became frighteningly real for these young kids.

8. Sour Grapes

One of the great things about documentaries is that they explore strange things that you probably never knew existed before.

For instance, did you know that wine fraud exists and that a con man made millions of dollars scamming wine auctions?

Yes, it’s true.

9. Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist

I remember reading about this very odd, true story when it happened in 2003 and thinking it would make a good movie or documentary. It turns out I wasn’t the only person with that idea…

This documentary tells the story of a man who was kidnapped, had a bomb attached to his neck, and was forced to rob a bank in Pennsylvania. The man died when the bomb later detonated but that was just the beginning of this story filled with twists and turns.

Add those to your list if you haven’t seen them yet.

Do you have any other documentary recommendations?

Share them with us in the comments!

The post True Crime Documentaries That Are Just As Crazy As ‘Tiger King’ appeared first on UberFacts.

True Crime Documentaries That Are Just As Crazy As ‘Tiger King’

The market seems a little flooded with true crime documentaries these days because the genre is so popular.

That’s where we come in: we’re here to recommend some great crime docs that you should watch while you’re stuck at home.

The first movie on the list will look very familiar if you’ve been paying attention to any kind of social media lately.

Happy watching!

1. Tiger King

I have something terrible to admit…I still haven’t seen Tiger King. I know, I’m sorry. I’m gonna get around to it soon.

If you haven’t either, we’re in for one hell of a ride. I haven’t heard people rave about a documentary like this before ever in my entire life. It sounds like it has all the key ingredients that make a true crime documentary great!

2. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

When I first saw this film when it was released in 1996, it blew my freaking mind. To this day, it still remains one of my favorite documentaries of all time and I still find myself devouring new articles and TV specials about the case.

Three young boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993 and three local teenagers who were into heavy metal and the occult were blamed for the gruesome killings.

A truly exceptional film.

3. McMillions

This HBO series explores the McDonald’s Monopoly game that we’ve all played at some point and how the whole thing was an elaborate scheme with no winners.

What a weird story!

The series is 6 parts so you know there’s a lot to dig into.

4. Wild Wild Country

This Netflix documentary was a huge hit a couple of years ago. The story concerns an Indian guru named Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who ran a cult-like community in Oregon in the 1980s.

Wild, wild stuff!

5. Abducted in Plain Sight

This is an insane story and it’s almost hard to believe that it’s even true.

A young girl in Idaho was abducted by her next-door neighbor not once, but twice. Then an alien story gets involved and things get really weird.

6. Long Shot

What are the odds of something like this happening…?

A man named Juan Catalan was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. To prove his innocence, Catalan has to prove that he was at an LA Dodgers game the night of the murder…

Oh, and Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm is part of the story, as well. You can’t make this kind of stuff up…

7. Beware the Slenderman

The whole saga of the Slenderman story is just totally bizarre.

If you haven’t heard of it before, here’s the short version: two 12-year-old girls lured a friend of theirs into the woods in Wisconsin and stabbed her.

The young girl lived, and it was revealed that the girls tried to kill their friend as an offering to “Slenderman”, an Internet legend that became frighteningly real for these young kids.

8. Sour Grapes

One of the great things about documentaries is that they explore strange things that you probably never knew existed before.

For instance, did you know that wine fraud exists and that a con man made millions of dollars scamming wine auctions?

Yes, it’s true.

9. Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist

I remember reading about this very odd, true story when it happened in 2003 and thinking it would make a good movie or documentary. It turns out I wasn’t the only person with that idea…

This documentary tells the story of a man who was kidnapped, had a bomb attached to his neck, and was forced to rob a bank in Pennsylvania. The man died when the bomb later detonated but that was just the beginning of this story filled with twists and turns.

Add those to your list if you haven’t seen them yet.

Do you have any other documentary recommendations?

Share them with us in the comments!

The post True Crime Documentaries That Are Just As Crazy As ‘Tiger King’ appeared first on UberFacts.

Nostalgic Things That Are Just as Great as When They Were First Made

Some things age very well. Other things fade into oblivion and/or lack of coolness.

Folks on AskReddit answered the question, “What is something that has aged well?” The answers range from celebrities to movies to science.

1. Classic rock.

“I find that a few classic rock bands are still very popular with young people today.

Bands such as the Beatles, Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana especially are the most popular amongst my peers.”

2. Arabic numbers.

“Arabic numerals – or what most people call “numbers”.

Since around 500AD, it’s been 0123456789. And the entire world uses them.

Even cultures without the Latin alphabet use them. Always interesting seeing them used in Asian languages’ writing, as they stand out seeming ‘western’ but they were in fact developed in Asia by Hindu mathematicians and spread throughout Middle East where they became popular (hence ‘Arabic’ numerals).”

3. A star called Methuselah.

“Astronomer here!

There is a star about 200 light years away from us called the Methuselah star which appears to be about as old as the universe itself. Specifically, the universe is thought to be about 13.8 billion years old, and the star is, based on its composition estimated to be 14.46+/- 0.8 billion years old. So presumably if you err on the side of that minus, it’s younger than the age of the universe, but still, the fact that it’s been shining for a good 13+ billion years is astounding!

For reference, our sun has been burning for about 4.5 billion years, and has about 5 billion more to go… so this star has already lasted longer than our sun ever will.”

4. LEGO.

“My parents gave my fiancé all our old LEGO. We joke that it’s my “dowry”. He’s gotten hours of endless joy out of those boxes of LEGO.

It is literally at least 200lbs of LEGO that they gave him. Some of it is from the 60s that my mom had as a girl, the majority was my brother’s who moved out and wasn’t interested in keeping it, a small amount was mine that I had built and then lost interest in.

We play DND with them now. It’s pretty great.”

5. Jurassic Park.

“When I was a kid, I hated the lunch scene where they ate that delicious looking Chilean sea bass and Malcom challenged Hamm on his achievements, and I looked at it as the ‘’boring part we fast forward through’’ but now as an adult I absolutely love the dialogue and the messages.

I got my 14 yr old nephew on it and made sure I explained what that scene meant just so he understands that it’s not meant to be boring.”

6. Weird Al.

“Celebrity after celebrity comes out with drug problems, abuse allegations, friends with Weinstein, and there’s Weird Al, singing a Coronavirus polka.”

7. Calvin & Hobbes.

“My nine year old recently discovered one of my old c&h collections.

He has gotten every book the library has and just reads them over and over again.

It’s great when your kid loves something just as much as you did at their age.”

8. Megamind.

“Megamind.

The villain being a nice guy incel was absolutely ahead of its time, and I think now that we are farther away from will Ferrell we can appreciate his role more now that its not something oversaturated. The animation still looks amazing, and the music selection feels very reminiscent of both shrek and guardians of the galaxy.

The comedy doesn’t feel dated at all, and very timeless. You could watch multiple times and learn something new every time (as i have… A lot). Its starting to get a lot more love now which is great because now i can talk about it with other people and not look batshit crazy”

9. Nintendo.

“Old Nintendo games… The speedrun community alone speaks for this.

It’s crazy how much hype there still is for 20-30 year old single player games.”

10. The Twilight Zone.

“The series premiered in 1959 and so many of the episodes still hold up today because of its brilliant writing.”

11. Golden Girls.

“Golden Girls didn’t just age well, it was lightyears ahead of its time.

I recently rewatched the episode where Rose finds out she might have been exposed to HIV. Even today, people still struggle sometimes to get that topic right.

To see it discussed like that just months out of the Reagan administration was mind-blowing.”

12. Lord of the Rings.

“I heard it put that the trilogy was made at the perfect time–cgi had gotten just good enough to be able to make all the fantastical stuff work, but not good enough to rely on for everything. The cg paired with incredible miniatures was done extraordinarily well.

There are a couple of green screen shots that have lost a little quality over time (mostly with the hobbits in front of scenes) but they did things like really built Rohan on a hill and relied on huge sets with loads of extras.

Somehow the stars aligned and Peter Jackson assembled the perfect crew for writing and production and they gathered perhaps the most ideal cast imaginable to produce a timeless screen adaptation of the greatest fantasy story ever told.”

All of these things have passed the greatest test of all: time. Now, time to go rewatch Jurassic Park!

What’s your fave nostalgic things? Let us know in the comments!

The post Nostalgic Things That Are Just as Great as When They Were First Made appeared first on UberFacts.

People Discuss the Most Disturbing Videos and Audio Clips on the Internet

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, but there are a lot of creepy videos and audio clips out there on the Internet.

Some of them are real, some of them are unexplainable and remain a mystery.

But you can definitely fall into some deep wormholes exploring all the creepiness out there.

AskReddit users shared their thoughts about what are the spookiest videos and audio clips you can find online.

Be warned: some of these answers may disturb you.

1. This is creepy.

“The sounds schizophrenic people hear, it’s a reconstitution made by doctors and validated by people who suffer from schizophrenia as something they hear often.”

voices

2. That poor whale.

“The loneliest whale, from what I recall it’s a sound they’ve recorded several times, but never found the whale itself. It’s call is a higher* frequency than any other that they’ve recorded and only ever seems to be from one.”

The 52-hertz whale.

3. Absolutely terrible.

“There was a video of a Chinese dude who could do parkour and he always climbed big all buildings and there was one clip at the end of the tribute where he was slowly losing his grip and you could see the despair he was in.

It got to the point where he was slipping so bad on this reslly big skyscraper he gave up and just jumped off. Screamed the whole way down.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0do3UngoeM

4. Very distressing.

“No murder and gore here, just a bird going extinct while holding onto hope that there is another one of its kind still out there. Maybe I’m overly sensitive but I always found it distressing.”

The mating call of the last Kauaʻi ʻōʻō

5. Terrifying.

“Video shot by a SCUBA diver who was exploring a “blue hole”, got caught by the down current and pulled to the bottom, where he ran out of air and suffocated.

You can hear the poor guy scream through his regulator as he realises that he’s going to die.

Fucking chilling. I am a SCUBA diver, but having seen this, down currents and blue holes can fuck right off. I’m going nowhere near either of them.”

VIDEO

6. Awful.

“The Versailles wedding hall disaster.

It was a fairly lucrative event hall in Jerusalem. The contractor who built the hall cut some corners and it was not up to specs, in particular, they misused a newly invented building material called Pal-kal. Then, on May 24, 2001, during a wedding, the entire dance floor collapsed into the ground floor. 23 people died, including the bride.

The inventor of Pal-kal was then sentenced to four years in jail, which is weird on its on.

There is a (very very unpleasant) video of the crash.

The song in the background is called (roughly translated) “I have a golden heart”, which was an incredibly major hit by a very popular singer Sarit Haddad (look her up, you’ll probably won’t like her style but she has an unbelievable voice), which since the incident decided never to perform it again. So one of the stickiest, catchiest, and frankly a bit annoying songs of the decade became a symbol for negligent catastrophe.”

7. Aztec death whistle.

“You ever heard an Aztec death whistle before? You won’t forget it quickly.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9QuO09z-SI

8. He was the killer.

Stephen McDaniel being interviewed on the local news about his missing neighbor (who he had killed and dismembered) and learning mid interview that her body had been found.

The link also contains footage that he shot of the victim through her window the night he killed her.”

9. Space sounds.

“Howling planets, whistling plasma waves, and pelting space rocks: the sounds of space is spooky — and NASA compiled a list of them. The atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan resembles the static noise coming off a TV, with a rhythmic sound going on and off in the background. It is the unknown that spooked us.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvRNY77_M1I

10. The Golden State Killer.

This phone call that the Golden State Killer made to one of his previous victims.”

11. A scary station.

“Russian ghost radio station has always creeped me out, no one knows who runs it or why. It just makes odd sounds and every once in a while someone will speak. the russian ghost station.”

12. Very unsettling.

The video of Elisa Lam in the elevator before her death.

I just have no idea what she’s doing, people at its clear that there’s someone off camera and I get why they say that, but I don’t think anything is clear. She’s acting so strange and then to turn up dead a few days later… So sad and unsettling.”

13. A terrible tragedy.

“2003 station nightclub concert. Pyrotechnics were used irresponsibly causing foam to catch fire which then spread to the surroundings and engulfed the building in flames within a matter of minutes. 100 people lost their lives .

So many things in this video still give me chills when I think about it, the screams, the sheer magnitude of it all, and the time it took people to register what happened.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bknYdprA9ug&t=

Spooky stuff!

What about you?

What do you think are the creepiest things out there on the Internet?

Tell us in the comments!

The post People Discuss the Most Disturbing Videos and Audio Clips on the Internet appeared first on UberFacts.

People Talk about the Spookiest Video and Audio Clips Online

We live in a world filled with danger around every corner. Sadly, it’s a fact of life. And sometimes, these incidents or phenomenons happen to be captured on video or audio.

An AskReddit thread recently asked people, “What are the spookiest audio or video clips on the Internet?”

Here are responses from AskReddit users.

Take warning: these videos are disturbing and might offend some people, so proceed with caution.

1. Kidnapping.

“A doorbell security camera picked up this footage of a suspected kidnapping in South LA in November. The video doesn’t really show anything, but the audio is horrifying.

There is a person screaming for help for the duration of the video before a car speeds away. I haven’t been able to find any newer information about this, and unless there’s an update I missed, the identity of the person screaming is still unknown.”

2. Jesus…no thanks.

“Listening to “last podcast of the left” they did a 911 call episode, there’s one where a guy calls and says his partner is stabbing her baby with scissors.

You can hear her in the background screaming DIE, DIE DIEEE! Can’t remember the episode bit it’s… yeah… a bad one.”

3. A terrible crash.

“One that personally struck me was the Queensday crash, on 29th op April 2009, in the Netherlands. On Queen’s/King’s day we celebrate the birthday of whoever sits on the throne and it’s just basically like a huge party in the Netherlands and the royals visit a new city every year.

So that year it was in Apeldoorn, and car slammed through the fences onto the square where a lot of people were gathered to see the royals, and people were just launched through the air and then filmed as they lay on the ground lifelessy. The panic and screams are also quite haunting.

It’s not necessarily as bad as the rest on here, but I watched this on live television when I was about 8. Stayed with me forever.”

4. Hacked in.

“The dude that hacked into a news broadcast in Chicago in 1987, Max Headroom.”

VIDEO

5. Wouldn’t want to hear this out in the woods.

“This terrifying mountain lion.

Listen to this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsane/comments/d4be86/mountain_lions_really_be_sounding_like_the_witch/

6. The exorcism.

“I’m not even a very religious person but the audio from the exorcism of Anneliese Michel chills me to the bone, you can find it on youtube.”

7. This is really weird.

“Local 58 on YouTube.

They only have a few videos, but the Contingency one is terrifying.”

VIDEO

8. Something you never want to get.

“What rabies looks like.

I watched this a long time ago. A few months ago I was bitten badly by a stray cat (injured, tried to help) and I started having flashbacks of that video.

Then the cat died (at the vet’s) and I was terrified waiting for the results.

Thankfully, she did not have rabies. Unfortunately, they believe she was poisoned with anti-freeze.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxBIJvNHZg4

9. Noises from the jungle.

Operation Wandering Soul.

The US government was coming up with new ways of luring the Vietcong out of the jungles during the Vietnam War. They came up with this disturbing and creepy audio recording of what sounds like spirits of the undead calling out to the Viet Cong.

The US military would play this audio at night to try to bring out the Vietcong from their hiding spots and demoralize them. Just imagine being in the middle of a jungle late at night and hearing that on full blast, not knowing where its coming from or what it is.”

10. Incredibly spooky.

“3 years ago Liberty German (14) and Abigail Williams (13) were found murdered and to this day their case remains unsolved.

Police released a very short video and audio clip of who they believe the killer to be taken from one of their cell phones. Here is a mash up of the two, but note that they are two separate things. You can clearly hear the guy saying, “Guys, down the hill.” It’s an incredibly haunting video and audio clip, especially knowing that this killer is still out there.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0snT740jhtw&feature=youtu.be

11. Plane crash.

“I’m so late on this and pissed because my entry will probably be seen by no one.

In 1957 two aircraft collided above a school in Pacoima California killing 8 people. During the crash the principal was giving an assembly which was recorded. You can hear the plane approaching the school in the recording.

Spooky part: it was the school of Richie Valens but he wasn’t in that day. The event made him terrified of flying and he was famously killed alongside Buddy Holly and Big Bopper in a crash two years later.

The recording is here”

https://russellbuchanan.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/pacoima-jr-high-school-airplane-crash-of-1957-audio/

Wow…some of those are really disturbing.

What do you think?

Do you know of any particularly creepy videos or audio clips online?

Share them with us in the comments.

The post People Talk about the Spookiest Video and Audio Clips Online appeared first on UberFacts.

Remember When Slap Bracelets Took the 1990s by Storm?

As someone who spent the 1990s in school, I have fond, nostalgia-tinged memories of slap bracelets. They were these pieces of flat metal (?) covered in poorly constructed cloth, and when you “slapped” them against your wrist they curled up like a bracelet.

And yes, sometimes the metal broke through the material and cut you, because this was the 90s and we played with toys that could injure or kill us on the regular.

Even though my memories of the slap bracelet are fond, I doubt that anyone who was teaching at the time could say the same – much like the annoying thud that accompanies kids today flipping water bottles, the thwack of a closing snap bracelet probably got old really, really fast.

In fact, some schools banned them altogether, probably because they were annoying, but under the guise of them being dangerous, given that some of the knockoffs actually led to stitches for some.

The original product, the Slap Wrap, was invented by Stuart Anders, a substitute teacher and coach from Fort Prairie, Wisconsin.  He was using his mother’s sewing table and pulled out her self-rolling tape measure when he thought – for some reason – that it would make a cool bracelet.

As Anders didn’t have the money or resources to make anything other than a prototype, though, it didn’t go anywhere for awhile.

Then he enlisted in the National Guard, learned to fly helicopters, moved to Florida, and began working for a local apparel company – and all the while keeping his bracelet prototype in his truck. Until fortuitous day he ran into Philip Bart, who was agent for toy designers.

Anders ran to get his bracelet, snapped it around Bart’s wrist, and the man was sold.

Philip Bart didn’t get very far with the big toy companies, as they saw the bracelet as a trinket they wouldn’t be able to sell for much. Eugene Murtha, who owned Main Street Toy Company in Simsbury, CT, though, felt differently. He had been the VP of Coleco during the Cabbage Patch craze and saw potential in Anders’ Slap Wrap.

The bracelets were the talk of their first trade show, the 1990 American International Toy Fair n New York City, and Murtha received a 250,000-unit order from KB Toys. After overcoming some manufacturing and design hurdles, the bracelets arrived in the summer of 1990.

Unfortunately, some of the prototypes got into competitors’ hands at the Toy Fair, which meant several knockoffs appeared on shelves before the original Slap Wrap. The cheaper versions used carbon steel which rusted easily, employed lower-quality fabric, and therefore created opportunities for injury.

Still, by fall, everyone wanted one. Kids were grabbing them up, they’d become a fad at schools all over the country, and The New York Times had described them as “a Venetian blind with an attitude.”

Schools were less than enthusiastic, banning them on grounds of danger and distraction, with some even requiring teachers to inspect the edges to endure they weren’t frayed and others taking away the accessory at the first sound of a snap.

The State of Connecticut recalled foreign version of the bracelet due to safety concerns, as well.

The craze, like most fads, was short-lived. It flamed out by the end of the year, but with everyone involved with Slap Wraps being around $4 million richer. Even so, finger pointing began, with Bart and Murtha pointing fingers and blaming each other for all of the reasons they didn’t make more like $25 million instead.

The pair went to court, and though a judge found fault with all parties, ruled that Murtha owed Anders his royalties – to the tune of over $750k.

He never received it, as Main Street Toy Company was belly-up. Murtha went on to work at Mattel and Gund, and later reconciled with Anders after he invented a popular tool socket holder picked up by Sears.

Slap bracelets are still around, but are still controversial due to their continued risk of lacerating skin with exposed edges. The ones sold with Troll dolls in 2017 were recalled, as were a 2018 version sold at Target.

People just don’t want to give up on the fun and popular fashion, even if it’s literally cutting kids.

I suppose that’s capitalism for you, though, and maybe one day people will get the design just right!

The post Remember When Slap Bracelets Took the 1990s by Storm? appeared first on UberFacts.

Remember When Slap Bracelets Took the 1990s by Storm?

As someone who spent the 1990s in school, I have fond, nostalgia-tinged memories of slap bracelets. They were these pieces of flat metal (?) covered in poorly constructed cloth, and when you “slapped” them against your wrist they curled up like a bracelet.

And yes, sometimes the metal broke through the material and cut you, because this was the 90s and we played with toys that could injure or kill us on the regular.

Even though my memories of the slap bracelet are fond, I doubt that anyone who was teaching at the time could say the same – much like the annoying thud that accompanies kids today flipping water bottles, the thwack of a closing snap bracelet probably got old really, really fast.

In fact, some schools banned them altogether, probably because they were annoying, but under the guise of them being dangerous, given that some of the knockoffs actually led to stitches for some.

The original product, the Slap Wrap, was invented by Stuart Anders, a substitute teacher and coach from Fort Prairie, Wisconsin.  He was using his mother’s sewing table and pulled out her self-rolling tape measure when he thought – for some reason – that it would make a cool bracelet.

As Anders didn’t have the money or resources to make anything other than a prototype, though, it didn’t go anywhere for awhile.

Then he enlisted in the National Guard, learned to fly helicopters, moved to Florida, and began working for a local apparel company – and all the while keeping his bracelet prototype in his truck. Until fortuitous day he ran into Philip Bart, who was agent for toy designers.

Anders ran to get his bracelet, snapped it around Bart’s wrist, and the man was sold.

Philip Bart didn’t get very far with the big toy companies, as they saw the bracelet as a trinket they wouldn’t be able to sell for much. Eugene Murtha, who owned Main Street Toy Company in Simsbury, CT, though, felt differently. He had been the VP of Coleco during the Cabbage Patch craze and saw potential in Anders’ Slap Wrap.

The bracelets were the talk of their first trade show, the 1990 American International Toy Fair n New York City, and Murtha received a 250,000-unit order from KB Toys. After overcoming some manufacturing and design hurdles, the bracelets arrived in the summer of 1990.

Unfortunately, some of the prototypes got into competitors’ hands at the Toy Fair, which meant several knockoffs appeared on shelves before the original Slap Wrap. The cheaper versions used carbon steel which rusted easily, employed lower-quality fabric, and therefore created opportunities for injury.

Still, by fall, everyone wanted one. Kids were grabbing them up, they’d become a fad at schools all over the country, and The New York Times had described them as “a Venetian blind with an attitude.”

Schools were less than enthusiastic, banning them on grounds of danger and distraction, with some even requiring teachers to inspect the edges to endure they weren’t frayed and others taking away the accessory at the first sound of a snap.

The State of Connecticut recalled foreign version of the bracelet due to safety concerns, as well.

The craze, like most fads, was short-lived. It flamed out by the end of the year, but with everyone involved with Slap Wraps being around $4 million richer. Even so, finger pointing began, with Bart and Murtha pointing fingers and blaming each other for all of the reasons they didn’t make more like $25 million instead.

The pair went to court, and though a judge found fault with all parties, ruled that Murtha owed Anders his royalties – to the tune of over $750k.

He never received it, as Main Street Toy Company was belly-up. Murtha went on to work at Mattel and Gund, and later reconciled with Anders after he invented a popular tool socket holder picked up by Sears.

Slap bracelets are still around, but are still controversial due to their continued risk of lacerating skin with exposed edges. The ones sold with Troll dolls in 2017 were recalled, as were a 2018 version sold at Target.

People just don’t want to give up on the fun and popular fashion, even if it’s literally cutting kids.

I suppose that’s capitalism for you, though, and maybe one day people will get the design just right!

The post Remember When Slap Bracelets Took the 1990s by Storm? appeared first on UberFacts.

These Solutions That Prove That ‘It’s Not Stupid If It Works’

Experts are usually the best people for the job, but sometimes, absolutely clueless people can solve problems, too. Hence the common saying: “If it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid.”

A Reddit user asked the site for examples of this phenomenon in action. Some of the responses are impressively stupid indeed, but hey, they all worked.

1. Fixing a car with a soda can.

“My dad fixing my car muffler with a soda can. I forgot about it until just now and I sold that car 5yrs ago. […]

He’s a welder and he’s known for fixing everything with duct tape-for real, for years our pants were hemmed with duct tape.

Whatever he did, it ran for years without a problem before I sold it. Looking at other comments, I’m thinking he either clamped it or welded it.”

2. Fixing a car with a penny.

“As college student had a shitty car.

Wouldn’t crank and found the copper tab from the solenoid to the starter had broke, leaving a gap. Thought “copper…..pennies is copper” so jammed a penny in the gap and it started right up.

For months I kept a cup holder full of pennies so I could crank the car.”

3. Fixing the Mars Rover with a shovel.

“They just sent an order for a rover on Mars to hit itself with a shovel. It worked.

Percussive maintenance.”

4. Fixing a server with a toy clown.

“Many moons ago we had a server that needed to be rebooted manually because the OS was really fucked. At 20:00 daily. Couldn’t reinstall or fix because it had a software with a license that could be lost if reinstalled. And couldn’t be reapplied because the maker had long ago left the market and no support or contact.

So our option was to be there daily at 20:00 or find out something.

We set up a toy of a fighting clown with a metal bar attached to its fist to trigger daily at 20:00. It was triggered with an integrated circuit with a timer. At 20:00 the toy was powered on, launching its fist with the attached bar against the server’s power on/power off button. First punch powered it off. At 20:10 it was triggered again, powering on the server.

We had this running for 6 months until we were able to reverse engineer the software’s functionalities and our coder made a program fully compatible with some of our scripting-foo.”

5. Using a laundry service to move.

“A friend of mine was about to move to a new apartment. Neither new nor old apartment had a washing machine and it was a trek to the coin-op laundry.

They called up a local laundry service. The service came to the old apartment and picked up almost every bit of clothing, bedding, towels, etc they owned. The service washed, dried and folded it all. And delivered it back again…. To the NEW address!!!

Friend saved a bunch of effort moving it all, a ton of time doing the laundry and the total cost of the service wasn’t much more than the cost of all the quarters for the coin-op machines and the detergent. And it made moving so much less stressful too.

This was in a big city with a lot of these laundry services. So YMMV. But it was beautiful and brilliant.”

6. Keeping track of the remote with a spatula.

“We kept losing our stupid little Apple TV remote in the cushions of our living room furniture so I took a small rubber spatula and duct taped it to the remote.

Haven’t lost it since.”

7. Eating kids vitamins.

“I struggled for years with anemia no one could find the cause for. Kept getting really sick, and every iron supplement caused severe side effects. (Extreme constipation and gi bleeds)

After YEARS of trying to figure it out, the best solution was to take two children’s Flintstones with Iron. Works perfectly. After so many attempts at medical intervention about it, it turns out the thing that fixed it was a couple cheap kids vitamins that can be found at any drugstore.”

8. Preventing crimes with empty cars.

“In the Florida keys, they have old cop cars on the side of the road to prevent speeding. Most of them don’t have cops inside them, or engines for that matter.

One of them actually had a mannequin dressed as a cop inside.”

9. Preventing crimes with fake cameras.

“Fake security cameras for a fraction of the cost of real security cameras but with a huge decrease in theft or vandalism.”

10. Fixing a toilet with a wine cork.

“I’ve got a sailboat, and we switched out the conventional style head (toilet) that had a holding tank to a composting head that’s like a fancy bucket that makes dirt. We had removed the holding tank, and were out sailing, when I hear my dad call for help down below.

It turns out that when we have heavy wind coming over the left side of the boat, the vent for our holding tank goes underwater, and it was just letting in lots of water. Dad’s there plugging it with his finger, but we need something to stop it up so he can get back above deck so we can actually sail.

Fortunately, we had drank some wine aboard a few nights prior, and the cork was still on the corkscrew. It fit the hole perfectly, and we figured “that’s good enough to get us back home so we can make a proper repair.”

That was 3 years ago, the cork’s still working great!”

11. Play football like a child at recess.

“In American football, there’s an offensive method/system called the “Run ‘n’ Shoot.” It was inspired by a high school football coach watching younger kids play football at recess. He watched them as they simply ran everywhere, just trying to get open, with no set routes (the pattern or path a receiver runs to catch a pass). Normally, routes are very rigid and coached with a lot of detail. He noticed that whoever was playing QB would often be running side to side to get away from the other kids chasing him, then would throw the ball when he found someone open. Another observation is that before the play began, kids would line up all over the yard, side to side, to get as open as possible. He also noticed that the kids were having a lot of fun doing it!

He wanted to have an offense that was fun for his players…so he built an offense based on spreading his players across the field, and having one or more players running “routes on the fly,” where a player would have anywhere from one to potentially four routes they could run after the play began. On almost every snap, his QB would run to the left or the right before throwing the ball, so he could run the ball away from the defense if no one was open.

It fucking worked, and it became one of the most influential pass-first offenses in the game’s history.

TL;DR: An American football coach built an entire offensive system based on observations he made watching a bunch of kids playing football at recess.”

12. Use a tire as a bumper.

“Placing used tires against your garage wall to cushion your front bumper from making potential impact in tight quarters.”

13. Buying 30 bottle openers.

“My friend and I were roommates – single guys. We owned one or two bottle openers and could never find them to open beer bottles, so next time we were at the liquor store we bought about 30 of them for 10c each and literally just threw them all over the apartment.

That way if you were looking for one, there was always one right next to you. It actually worked out so fucking perfectly I can’t even describe it in words to make you understand and to this day even thinking about it relieves me of stress.

There is something about being handed a beer and knowing there is a bottle opener within 2ft of you no matter where you are in the apartment that is calming on a deep emotional level.”

Lesson learned: no matter how stupid it sounds, it’s worth a try. It might just turn into the best solution ever.

What do you think? Got any “so stupid, but it worked” stories?

Share them in the comments!

The post These Solutions That Prove That ‘It’s Not Stupid If It Works’ appeared first on UberFacts.

People Share How They Landed a Job They Genuinely Love

A lot of us really hate our jobs (not me, of course). However, there are apparently a select few individuals who actually really, really enjoy going to work every day.

It might sound crazy, but it’s true. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to find and land a job you love, you might be interested in this Reddit thread, which asks Redditors to share jobs they genuinely love and the story behind how they got into the field.

As you might have guessed, people had a lot to say on this topic. Below are some of our favorite answers that just might inspire you.

1. Some people were just trying to save a few bucks.

“I’m a private chef on a superyacht.

I got it because I used to work in Michelin star restaurants in London. I was tired of working so hard and then seeing so much of my salary get wasted on rent and cost of living in London. I figured out that you get to keep 100% of your salary if you live on the yacht. A bonus right now is that we’re moored up on an island that has no cases of coronavirus at all. The pay is way more than what you would get as head chef in a restaurant as well. The crew I work with are all great and I get to cook with the best ingredients with almost an unlimited budget.

I couldn’t be happier.”

— skinMARKdraws

2. While others just wanted to be like Indiana Jones.

“Archaeologist. I’m back in school right now to get a master’s so I can hopefully lead my own digs one day but even shovel bum jobs are amazingly rewarding.

Sure, the days are long and you’re out in the hot sun, but when you find something old and cool you really feel like a treasure hunter.”

— snaresamn

3. Others are fulfilling their childhood Hot Wheels fantasies.

“I build and work on racecars. It’s the coolest job in the world to me. I work for a team and do stuff on the side as well.

I helped on race teams for years just for fun, and as I learned more and got better at it it slowly morphed into a paying deal.”

— randomemu

4. Some people really know how to network.

“I’m a carpenter who works on mansions on a private island.

I kinda just fell into this job tbh. My girlfriend has a cousin whose father has some money and owns a custom carpentry company. We moved to their area and the father offered me a job. At the time I was working at Papa John’s and shit had been rough for a while. I have fallen in love with the job since. It’s incredibly hard work but at the end of the day, the satisfaction of being able to physically see the results of my efforts at the end of the day has worked wonders on my job motivation and mental health at work. Every morning I watch the sunrise come over the ocean driving to work and at lunch, I sit on the beach and watch the waves. I couldn’t ask for a better location, better pay, or a better trade.

Saying I’m in love with my job is an understatement. My work is becoming who I am and a big part of myself and for the first time in my life I’m alright with it.”

— erviniumd

5. Teaching adults new skills can be really rewarding.

“I’m the chairperson of a culinary school.

I love my work. No day is ever the same, we see students go from not knowing how to pick up a knife to real skills within a couple of years, graduates get jobs quickly and go on to do all kinds of things.

I started apprenticing as a cook in 1998, completed the apprenticeship in 2002, went to university to study history, graduated PhD in food history in 2015, was a professor at a culinary school and am now the chairperson.”

— ryguy_1

6. Turns out, becoming YouTube famous is actually super hard.

“I get to do YouTube full-time building and engineering my dream cars.

The best part about it, the crazier and more noteworthy, the more successful the video. It’s like getting to be a car mechanic and only work on your own cars. So thankful for getting to this point. It took years of making videos for fun as an outlet for being in a dead-end town.”

— rdahm

7. Do you believe in magic? This guy still does.

“I’m a magician for a living.

I mostly specialize in performing at corporate events all over the world. It had been a hobby since I was little. Throughout my childhood, I always had a passion for theater, and eventually minored in it in college. I was working in sales after 8 years in the army, and decided to give it a shot. So, I went out and pitched a bunch of restaurants on the idea of having me come bounce around, performing for people at their tables while they waited for their dinner. It was really well received!

Eventually, I started booking bigger and bigger clients.”

— zombioptic

8. Helping people through their worst moments is incredibly exhausting, but also rewarding.

“I’m a crisis counselor for a hotline for a non-profit that serves folks impacted by specific kinds of abuse. I do direct care while also providing leadership and training as well.

It’s difficult work and it wears me down some days BUT I couldn’t imagine having a job that didn’t feel as meaningful and important. I love helping people; I love listening to people.

It’s scary calling somewhere and asking for help or asking for support. But, sometimes you get people like me on the other end who will do their best to make sure when the call is over you’re feeling a little better, a little more hopeful and feeling a little safer.”

— yrexloverisdead

9. Playing with puppies all day, where do we sign up?

“I’m a dog groomer and love my job.

I started out at grooming school and then ended up working there afterward. I now run my own business and am extremely passionate about what I do.

It can be a harder job than people realize but it makes it all worth it when the dogs leave my salon looking and feeling great, and seeing the owners reactions.”

— jammersbout

10. Who didn’t dream of becoming a pilot as a kid?

“Piloting!

Childhood dream come true and views are great … worked hard and lucked into a sponsored program by an airline.”

— sdweed1

11. For some, work is a calling.

“Neuroscience researcher: I just knew from when I was a little kid that I wanted to be a scientist, and I was lucky enough to have parents who would encourage that kind of thing and access to good educational opportunities.

So I studied psychology in college, then went to grad school for behavioral neuroscience (that was a slightly rough 7 years), got my PhD and started a postdoctoral fellowship a year ago in behavioral/computational neuroscience.

If I were independently wealthy I would seriously pay money to be allowed to do this job.”

— optrode

12. Cleaning up messes = audiobook time.

“I’m a Janitor and I can say it’s the fucking best every time friends or family ask how’s work I reply with: “What work? I don’t work.”

Every day is different someday something breaks and you go and repair it, somedays you clean, somedays you do some garden work. And everything is calm, I don’t need to stress.

I can listen to audiobooks all day long, and I can plan the day myself.”

— themrkablamo

13. You’re never too old to love an amusement park.

“I work at an amusement park, it was my favorite first job, I worked in the games department as an attendant.

I would operate a single game for a whole shift, with how busy the park was, I had the chance to meet and talk to so many different people throughout the day, everyone had fun and each day was different, I have been there for 5 years now and I had the amazing chance to become apart of the management team.

I love the people I work with but I have only maybe 5 bad days throughout the entire season. 10/10 would recommend.”

— salemdevonshire

14. That feeling when your work helps other people escape into a steamy book.

“I write romance novels and sell them on Amazon. I actually got into it through writing erotica, which I still do.

It’s really nice. It’s a job, obviously, and some days you really don’t want to sit down and put the hours in, but you have to in order to keep the lights on just like any other gig; waiting for inspiration to strike isn’t really an option. There’s also the fact that when you self-publish, you have to do all of the things that a publishing house would do on top of writing.

That means you have to figure out marketing, editing, cover design, social media… or at least, be willing to hire someone who can do that stuff for you.”

— portarossa

15. When you live in a beautiful place, nothing really feels like work.

“I milk goats on a goat dairy in Hawai’i. I love being around goats all day and working on the farm.”

— dr_bigbutt

What job have you loved the most? Anything that really stands out?

Let us know in the comments and give us the whole story!

Please and thank you!

The post People Share How They Landed a Job They Genuinely Love appeared first on UberFacts.