Art can touch us in ways we don’t expect, and to make us think about everyday things – like all of the many relationships in our lives – in new and interesting ways.

That said, most people will not expect drawings that contain just two simple lines to hit them in the feels the way artist and illustrator Olivia de Reclat’s “Closeness Lines” do.

She uses just a few, simple lines that connect, diverge, and sometimes return to show how human relationships – from parent/child to a one night stand – evolve and influence us over time.

A minimalist drawing that represents closeness over time. from Damnthatsinteresting

The post has been upvoted on Reddit over 95k times and people just can’t believe how much thought the lines provoke.

For me, the way a child loops away from their parent, then returns, but ultimately has to continue alone really kicked me in the heart. Then there’s the way a first love is so close but only for a while…

And of course, the dog. They are as close to us as possible, but for far too short a time. Sniff.

People have thoughts on many of the relationships, and some of their comments are as good and deep as the original post.

As an artist, I think that the results of her thoughtful drawings are about all we can ask for – true engagement and conversation in return.

What are your favorite ones? Which ones really made you stop and take stock of your life? Please share with us in the comments so we can keep the discussion going!

The post Artist’s Work Depicts How Relationships Change Over Time and It’s Very Interesting appeared first on UberFacts.

We adore our children regardless of their gender. This is a given, and yet most parents will also tell you that there’s a special connection between parents and children of the opposite sex.

Boys and their mamas. Little girls and their daddies. When those relationships are healthy, everyone involved is thriving in ways they never could have imagined.

And yes, while girls needed their mamas and little boys need emotionally strong and complex men to model after, this post is about celebrating the relationships between girls and their wonderful dads.

“Here’s to the girl dads.

Here’s to the guys who love hiking and fishing.

Who camp and build things with their hands.

Who have tattoos on their arms,

Here’s to the guys guy,

That now hold a little girl.

Thanks for pausing the wrestling matches to conduct tea parties.

Thanks for babysitting baby dolls,

And letting tiny hands,

Put polish on your big toes.

Here’s to the dads who watch princess movies,

And slow dance in the kitchen.

The dads who helped take off training wheels,

Who tighten seatbelt straps,

And fasten car seats in.

Who hold hands when crossing the street,

Who have spent so many years right now learning to hold on,

And will spend the rest of your lives learning to let go.

You are building hearts with your construction hands.

And I know a little girl who thinks the world of you.

So here’s to the girl dads,

Who give so much beauty to the word

Dad.”

These words bring a tear to the eye of every woman who had a wonderful dad, a man whose love and guidance and kindness shaped not only her, but informed the kind of man she would choose to parent her own babies.

And of course, to the eye of every woman who has a partner like this in raising a daughter – having that is a blessing that none of us would turn away if we had the chance.

The post A Mom Penned a Letter to All the Superstar “Girl Dads” out There appeared first on UberFacts.

A lot of us have read the science here and there about how screens are affecting our kids’ minds, how we should limit them to a certain number of hours per day based on age…but we’ve all also needed to clean the kitchen, bake a cake, take a “sick day,” or just drag through a particularly rough Tuesday now and then.

This mom had enough of her kids’ obsession though, and no one was more shocked than she was how much ditching the screens totally changed their lives at home – and beyond.

When mom Molly DeFrank decided to pull the plug cold turkey, she figured that, at the very least, it wasn’t going to hurt anyone. She was noticing that her kids were losing interest in socializing in person, they could be cranky and aggressive when told it was time to turn screens off, and many other negative behaviors that sociologists and psychologists have warned could be connected to too much screen time for those with underdeveloped brains.

I mean. I feel like the same things apply to those of us with supposed-developed brains, too, so take heed.

For Molly and her husband, it came to a head when they realized not one of their five children cared whether or not they spent time together or with their parents, as long as they had a screen. They put a 30-day detox plan into place, but in the end, discovered it didn’t take nearly that long to wean them off – and even the kids admitted they were happier for the switch.

Their children are all under 10, but their intense initial reaction to the decision only solidified the DeFrank’s resolve.

“It turns out that screens were doing to my children exactly what the studies claimed they were doing; cultivating distracted, grumpy, argumentative little people. …Quitting was shockingly easy, surprisingly sustainable, and my nine-year-old daughter has told me on several occasions that she’s glad we’ve cut them out.”

Instead of playing video games or watching television, family time at the DeFrank’s looks like everyone grabbing a book and reading together, or taking a trip to the library to pick out more books.

Cutting out technology all together may not be for you – if you’ve got children too young to entertain themselves safely another way while you say, shower, or you’re putting more than one little to bed and need a way to keep one contained while you put the baby down, etc. – even Molly and her husband acknowledge it’s not evil, in and of itself.

“Technology can, of course, be useful – in its right place. The key is making technology work for us, rather than the other way around.”

Basically, the DeFrank’s have proven – colloquially – that what the experts are saying is true. The limits and suggestions are rules are there for a reason, and what’s best for the little developing minds in our own homes is to follow them on the days that we can.

I know I’m going to make more of an effort with mine!

What are your rules for screen time? Do you break them more than you should? How would a total ban go down at your house?

Let’s discuss in the comments!

The post A Girl Jumped Five Reading Levels After Her Mom Put a Ban on Screen Time appeared first on UberFacts.

If you’re a kid at school, you’re gonna et in trouble at one time or another. If you’re the six-year-old who penned this absolute takedown of a letter, though, you’ve apparently decided you don’t have to take it lying down.

The monster/teacher in question took away the child’s “hummingbird bucks” to punish him for talking in class when he was supposed to be quiet.

His response earned his mother a one-way trip to a parent-teacher conference, and the letter was shared by one of the mother’s coworkers, who thought it was just hilarious.

Little Isaiah is quite angry about all of this and he used his excellent penmanship to make his feelings known.

This lady on facebook said her coworker had to have a conference with her sons teacher because of a note he wrote. Y’all. Please read the note. pic.twitter.com/oksT80EwKv

— Kennedy (@HelloKennedi) February 13, 2020

“I am angry of you Because you took 25 of my humm-ing Bird Bucks all because I was talking to Conner that’s no big deal im only 6 I cant be qyet all the time and that makes you a theif and crook & you are going to Hell real Hell the burning 1 because you a theif.”

“I worked hard for those bucks and my Only prayer in chaple today was that god gets you to hell fast super fast and your new hair cut is Bad real bad.”

The original tweet has earned close to 300,000 likes and 65,000 retweets since it was first posted, and plenty of people are still passing it around.

This teacher doesn’t understand how a reward system works. He earned his hummingbird bucks. You don’t get to take them away. If he’s misbehaving, he doesn’t earn more bucks.
I agree with the kid. That is stealing.

— Laura (@SAHMvoter) February 13, 2020

People are largely in his corner, actually, but agree that going after the haircut was dirty business.

I admire the way he approached his predicament. 25 humming bird dollars is definitely way too much for talking to Conner! He’s displaying that he understands the act of compromise, and he probably doesn’t even know the word yet! He’s very observant, analytic and understanding.

— Julez (@JulyaShimada) February 13, 2020

“Your new haircut is bad. Real bad.” Isaiah read Ms. Jones for filth!!!! pic.twitter.com/eMHktg7xWT

— Kennedy (@HelloKennedi) February 13, 2020

I would also like to point out that Isaiah has great handwriting to be 6 and can spell better than most adults. He has a bright future ahead of him.

— Kennedy (@HelloKennedi) February 13, 2020

I admire the way he approached his predicament. 25 humming bird dollars is definitely way too much for talking to Conner! He’s displaying that he understands the act of compromise, and he probably doesn’t even know the word yet! He’s very observant, analytic and understanding.

— Julez (@JulyaShimada) February 13, 2020

No word on how the parent-teacher conference went, whether or not Isaiah got his hummingbird bucks back, or whether or not his mother died of embarrassment.

I, for one, would really like an update.

The post A Young Boy’s Letter to His Teacher Is Absolutely Scathing appeared first on UberFacts.

Data collection has been on everyone’s mind in the past couple of years, ever since Facebook got bad press for selling information on users during the 2016 election. If anything, it made most people aware that everywhere you go online, every time you agree to anything before using it, there’s a good chance they’re collecting data about you that they will then sell to the highest bidder.

People have started to become conspiracy theorists about online games to DNA test kits, and rightfully so – but you might not have stopped to think about what your child’s school is collecting every time they log onto a computer in class?

Some parents have found out the hard way what’s being collected – and how difficult it might be to get that data wiped before it causes real harm.

Because of incidents like school shootings, schools are collecting data about more than grades – they’re monitoring search histories, social media behavior, and the like in order to head off potential problems. The systems aren’t taking mistakes into account, though, and there are teenagers across the country who have already paid a steep price.

The Guardian has reported on up to 10 students, who had been accepted to Harvard, having those acceptances rescinded after racist and obscene jokes in a private Facebook chat came to light. More recentlyKyle Kashuv, a conservative activist from Parkland, Florida, also had his Harvard admission rescinded after racists remarks came to light. He was 16 when he made them.

The question for many is becoming not only about what is being collected and shared but whether kids with underdeveloped brains should be held accountable for dumb remarks long into their futures.

A group of parents in Montgomery County, which is in a suburb of Washington D.C., fought for and won an annual “data deletion week,” meant to clear the digital slates from not only the district, but also from the tech companies and online applications it uses.

The idea was pushed by attorney and parent Bradley Shear, whose second-grade son had gotten into trouble for Googling the song “Fuck You” by CeeLo Green on the school laptop. Shear maintained that the search was auto-populated and an accident, but even if it wasn’t, he’s only eight – how long should that follow him around?

Shear wanted the data deleted by GoGuardian, the company contracted by the district to monitor students’ searches and website visits.

The parents in that district won, and though it may not be as easy for those groups of parents that don’t include a lawyer and experts in security, privacy, and politics, at least we have precedence now to make regular data deletion a thing around the country.

He started meeting with district officials, discussing his and other parents’ concerns, including at least one other committee member who’d had a similar experience with her son – he’d typed in “save the land” while doing a book report on conservation and “up came the Ku Klux Klan …’Save the land, join the Klan.’”

When she’d gone to the teacher and suggested wiping the search from her son’s browser history, the teacher had told her that wasn’t possible.

Data Deletion Week means that not only have these troubling mistakes been deleted from inside and outside school systems, but official letters to certify that the data had been fully deleted, not simply kept and “de-identified” have been sent.

In this day and age, the knowledge that your kid’s mistakes as a teenager aren’t going to ruin the rest of their lives seems like a common sense thing we’d all want to make sure gets done.

But maybe also make sure they know that racism isn’t funny. Just a thought.

The post You Might Be Surprised at the Data Your Kid’s School Is Collecting appeared first on UberFacts.

Paul Newman is a legend in my book.

First of all, Slap Shot is one of the greatest sports movies of all time. And it easily the greatest hockey movie ever made. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Here’s a brief rundown of just some of his iconic films: Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Road to Perdition, and many, many more.

Here are 7 facts about the man, the myth, the legend!

1. The gridiron.

Newman originally wanted to be a professional football player. He played in high school and got a football scholarship to play at Kenyon College in Ohio.

He was kicked off of his college team for fighting and then became interested in the theater. He ended up going to the Yale School of Drama and then moved to New York to be a full-time actor.

2. Not a fan…

Newman thought his first film role was the worst movie he ever appeared in. His first starring role came in 1954’s The Silver Chalice and Newman thought the film was just terrible.

Good thing he moved on past that turkey…

3. That’s not me…

Early in his career, Newman was commonly mistaken for actor Marlon Brando from people on the street.

Instead of correcting them, Newman would sign autographs that read “Best Wishes, Marlon Brando.”

4. A real prankster.

The actor liked to play practical jokes and he enjoyed faking his own death. During the making of Exodus, Newman tossed a dummy off of a building and director Otto Preminger believed it was Newman. He repeated this prank during the making of The Mackintosh Man for director John Huston as well.

While making Slap Shot, Newman scared the hell out of director George Roy Hill by climbing behind the wheel of a wrecked car and acting like he had been involved in an accident.

5. Introduction to racing.

Newman was a well-known fan of car racing and his introduction to the sport came when he starred in the 1969 movie Winning. He started racing as an amateur in 1972 and he won his first race at the professional level in 1982.

He continued to drive all the way up until 2005. He said, “I’ll always talk about racing because the people are interesting and fun, the sport is a lot more exciting than anything else I do, and nobody cares that I’m an actor. I wish I could spend all my time at the racetrack.”

6. Nixon was not a fan.

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As we all know now, President Richard Nixon was incredibly paranoid and liked to keep tabs on people he considered enemies. Paul Newman made Nixon’s list because he supported candidate Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 election and he was a highly vocal critic of the Vietnam War.

Newman found out that Nixon compiled a list of his personal enemies in 1971.

The actor later got a copy of the list and had it framed.

7. A stand-up guy. 

During the making of the 1998 film Twilight, Newman discovered that he and Gene Hackman were making a lot more money than their c0-star Susan Sarandon, who was receiving equal billing with the two actors.

Newman offered to give up part of his salary to make things equal for Sarandon.

What’s your favorite Paul Newman movie?

Please share with us in the comments!

The post Interesting Facts About the Late, Great Paul Newman appeared first on UberFacts.