Category: life

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A Woman Shared Her Ex’s Text Messages to Show How Abusers Act Behind Closed Doors

When people who survive abuse open up about their experiences, confused folks often wonder: “Why didn’t you just leave?” But escaping from an abusive situation is never that simple. It’s a tangled, terrifying web of threats and intimidation, and it’s usually carefully hidden from others. Bystanders often have no idea just how bad things have gotten.

One woman shared screenshots of her abusive ex-husband’s text messages to show exactly what it’s like on the inside of an abusive relationship. Kristy is, thankfully, no longer with her ex, Adam.

First, he’d frequently send her a barrage of paranoid texts while she was on shift at work, despite the fact that she wasn’t allowed to have her phone while on the clock.

Photo Credit: Imgur

Another text shows Adam questioning her about her coworker, Tony, who committed the cardinal sin of changing her tire once.

Photo Credit: Imgur

And the third text shows that he literally set traps for her so that he’d know whether she slept at home or not. She was at a female friend’s house that night.

Photo Credit: Imgur

Adam also physically abused Kristy, then warned her not to tell her family members about it despite the fact that they could see the bruises on the rare occasions when they got to see Kristy.

Photo Credit: Imgur

Adam was so controlling and paranoid that he made Kristy take photos to prove that she wasn’t lying about her location.

Photo Credit: Imgur

He also made her step out at midnight every night to call her, And though she did her best to comply with his outlandish demands, he still berated her and told her not to come back to their home state.

Adam wasn’t always this way. He used to be kind and loving, Kristy says, until she lost weight and got a job. Then the abuse began.

“I finally got the guts to leave when he hurt my dog and kitten,” she explained. “3 years later and I’m actually doing great… I save these text messages to remind myself how far I’ve come.”

We support you Kristy. And anyone whose having trouble in an abusive relationship, just know that there are resources that you can rely on, and people who want to help you.

The post A Woman Shared Her Ex’s Text Messages to Show How Abusers Act Behind Closed Doors appeared first on UberFacts.

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Check out These Tweets That Are so Wholesome They Might Make You Cry

There’s all kinds of bad news in the world right now, which is why we want to share some nice, wholesome, heartwarming tweets with you – so we can all feel better.

H0nestly, they’re so nice, they might even make you shed a tear or two.

You’ve been warned…grab some tissues.

1. Okay, I’m already crying.

2. These ladies are awesome.

3. A beautiful reunion.

4. His best friend, Ben.

5. Brothers will be brothers.

6. He was surprised.

7. A lot going on in this video.

8. Nice work, coaches.

9. It’s been five long years.

10. Best friends are forever.

11. Mother and child reunion.

12. “The happiest I’ve ever been.”

13. All the way from Nigeria.

14. A very special moment.

Okay, who’s ugly crying?

It’s okay, you can admit it…

The post Check out These Tweets That Are so Wholesome They Might Make You Cry appeared first on UberFacts.

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Here’s How to Change Your Email Address Without Any Headaches

Do you need to change your email address? Don’t worry, all hell doesn’t need to break loose. Here’s how to make the process as smooth and headache-free as possible.

First, set up your new email address on Gmail (because let’s admit it — you’re going to be using Gmail). Update your email info on important accounts and/or pages, such as your personal website and bank accounts. Don’t forget to tell your friends, family members and business colleagues!

Photo Credit: Pixabay

After you sign in to your new inbox, you can import your old emails and contacts from your old Gmail account, if you want to. First, click the gear icon, then select “Settings” -> “Accounts and import” -> “Check mail from other accounts.” Click the “Add a mail account” option, and enter your old email address. Click “Next,” make a selection, and then click “Next” again. Enter your password, select your desired options, then finish adding the account.

Alternatively, you may want to skip that step and start all over with zero emails in your new inbox. But even in that case, you should set up email forwarding so that you don’t miss out on any important emails going to your old address. (If you do import your old emails through Gmail, you don’t need to set up email forwarding separately, as it will already be set up.)

Photo Credit: iStock

To set up email forwarding from an old Gmail account, log in to the old account and click the gear icon. Click “Settings” -> “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” -> “Add a forwarding address.” Then enter your new email address. Don’t forget to verify the new address by clicking on the verification email.

To set up email forwarding from an Outlook account, log in and click the gear icon. Click “View all Outlook Settings” -> “Mail > Forwarding” -> “Start Forwarding.” Enter your new email address and click “Save.”

You may also want to set up an auto-response on your old email address to let folks know that you can no longer be reached there.

And that’s it! You officially have a brand new email address. Not so hard, huh?

The post Here’s How to Change Your Email Address Without Any Headaches appeared first on UberFacts.

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15 Parents Who Have Disowned Kids Share Their Stories

For almost all parents, at least I’d imagine, the idea of disowning your own child is unfathomable. We can’t imagine a day or an event could ever come that would interrupt our constant flow of love, or our desire to keep them close enough to protect.

These 15 parents decided that’s not true, though – that there are limits to what they’re willing to accept – and they were willing to put their stories out there on Reddit.

15. A tragic tale from the past.

Not me, but my great grandma. This story is really sad but also interesting, so I thought I’d share it.
She was a young creole teenager- french creole was her first language, and she was a quarter-to-half black like me, with tan skin and loose brown curls. She was born in Florida, but when things started getting worse for black people in Florida, her family relocated to Texas. For those who don’t know, creole people tend to play heavily into colorism. Although they are definitely mixed race, they prioritize light skinned people. The looser your curl, the lighter your skin, the more white you look, the better. Her parents had high expectations for her to marry a wealthy, light skinned man who would take care of her.

Instead, she met my great grandfather. A poor, dark-skinned man jumping from job to job working for farmers and trying to make a living. The two of them fell in love. They were just teenagers. Her parents threatened to disown her if she continued seeing him, and like a rebellious teenager, she refused. They wanted her to do better. She wanted to be in love.

They might have broken up eventually, if she didn’t get pregnant. But she did, and that was the end of it. Her parents basically said “you’ve ruined your life” and disowned her right there. The whole family disowned her. No one would speak to her- aunts, uncles, cousins, not a single person stood up for her. So she had no choice. The two of them moved to California, so he could get a job picking oranges. He built a house. They had their first daughter. She was 16. She never saw her family again.

14. Everyone’s safety matters.

I love my son, but he abused me. When he turned that violence on to his sister by choking her, I had to say “Good-bye”.

13. Some people think they’re owed everything.

since it seems to have widened a bit, a family torn apart. Based on an aunt and her niece.

Aunt starts signs of dementia at a relatively young age, is moved into an assisted living home. Niece (who bounces around jobs) gets hirex to go visit her about once a week, take her out to the mall or a walk in the park, whatever. Paid handsomely.

We get an alert that aunt has a check bounce from her account that should have $5k in it. Niece has drained the account. Proven beyond a doubt, with receipts. Niece would take aunt to aunt’s bank machine every friday and withdraw $200, then fill her car with gas (aunt can’t drive), and charge us hours when she clearly didn’t spend hours with aunt (charged us claiming she took aunt to appointments – there was no appointment. We can actually call the doctor fyi).

The family rift? For some bizarre reason niece’s family took her side.

12. When every day is harder than the one before it.

I wouldn’t say I’ve disowned or stopped loving my son, but it’s real tough to find love for him. He’s almost 14 (next month) and he’s currently out of our home at a treatment facility. He’s averaged two arrests a year for the last two years, and he’s attacked my wife several times, our daughters several times, and the neighborhood kids several times. He’s run away from school, run away from home, and tried to push me off the roof of our house (after threatening to jump off and hurt himself). We have become “that family” in our town where the police are called to our home on a semi-regular basis. He’s been getting more violent as he gets older (not to mention bigger and stronger) and I honestly don’t see an end in sight.

The key fact I’m leaving out is that he’s been diagnosed as high functioning autistic and is also bipolar. That’s like putting walls around a tornado and expecting it to stay inside the walls. A lot of what has occurred he had little control over because of the way his mind is (where he’s constantly at war with himself, structure versus chaos), and my wife and I have tried desperately to give him the best life we can while keeping ourselves and our daughters safe, but I’m tired.It’s been 8 and a half years we’ve been going through this with him and I’ve been ready to throw in the towel on him for a while. But my wife refuses to let him go, so we wake up every morning trying to give him the best life for him and our girls.

11. Time can heal some wounds.

I am not sure if this counts. I didn’t disown him, but I went through a dissociative episode after some really intense trauma, and I honestly couldn’t feel any attachment and parental love that I had for my son. I tried not to show it, and behave as normally as possible because he was a child at the time and couldn’t possibly understand what I was going through. It was pretty disturbing to not be able to feel any sense of bond with him. I eventually got better, but I definitely did not feel what I or most people would call love for him.

10. Sometimes you have to think of the other children.

I’m not a parent, I’ve never disowned a child. My parents disowned my oldest sister. I’m the youngest of three girls. My oldest sister had a horrible relationship with my father, blames me for getting in the way of their relationship. She had her first baby (to spite him) when she was 16 years old. My father refused to give her money because she met a deadbeat child predator, and got pregnant again, the again, and again. She constantly put herself and deadbeat before kids. Dad would send money to girls for Christmas and birthdays and never heard a thing, he finally gave up… She’s 30, has six daughters, and lives in a mobile home in North Carolina.

We hadn’t seen or heard from my sister until June of this year. My oldest niece contacted me asking to come to Florida (where I live) for the summer to get her and her sisters out of the trailor. I agree, contact sister and she agrees, I set up plane tickets and organize the rooms they’ll stay in. When they got here, they were completely disheveled. Clothes visibly dirty, smelled foul, so covered in lice that my white towels stained gray from removing them. My niece informed me that they had been without water and electricity for 6 months. They live in a 2 bedroom mobile home, there are holes in the roof, bugs and rats everywhere. As a family, we decide the girls aren’t going back to North Carolina.

We tell my sister to come to my parents house in Florida to get her life together and get back on her feet. She refused because deadbeat is not invited. Ironically, she found out that deadbeat is cheating on her. She confronts him and he kicks her out of shit hole trailer. Deadbeat said “I would rather be homeless than live with you”. Sister now works for the dollar store and doesn’t pull her weight with kids. At least the girls are safe now…

9. It’s not easy to do what’s best for everyone.

My parents disowned my oldest sister. She always struggled growing up more than us (she became a teen mom with a bad older dude, partied a lot, etc), but my parents helped her a lot. They do okay for themselves, but had a no-co-signing rule for all six of my siblings and I. Still, they co-signed for her house so she could get a head start.

She didn’t pay the mortgage for almost 3 years before my mom got served in front of all the other nurses at her work.

My parents worked tirelessly to try to work out deals where my sister and her family kept the house and got some leniency, but to no avail, because my sister never showed up for court dates. During this time, she paid $12k for IVF and got pregnant with her fifth kid.

When my mom demanded some of the money back, she accused my dad and my brother of beating her sons when my parents took them to Disney World (he didn’t) and said she’d file a police report if he asked for money again. They kept asking, cause it wasn’t true.

She awkwardly joined us for Christmas, and punched my brother in the face during the meal for “humiliating” her oldest son by asking him if he wanted to work at my brother’s company for good pay. Her oldest son is in and out of jail, and my brother was trying to help him after his release, but her son said he didn’t want a job and got mad. She then called the cops and told them the same brother had illegal guns in his truck, and they came on Christmas night and searched his truck (no guns found!)

Needless to say, she is not welcome anywhere near any of us and my mom still cries about it, but refuses to talk to her again.

8. Impossible to understand how one could do that to a little baby.

My ex wife disowned my son.

We both married young when I was in the military (high school sweethearts). She became pregnant 6 months into our marriage. I don’t think she connected with him at all after he was born. The most she did with him was Instagram photo shoots where she painted herself as #1 mommy. When he turned 3, I left the military. A year after that, she ran for the hills. I remember it like it was yesterday. I sat down with her at a local restaurant to talk divorce plans. We split all of our financials and material items down the middle. We finally got to custody for my kiddo (something I dreaded to discuss because fathers never gain custody in my area) and she tells me “I want absolutely no responsibility”. I was taken back and I asked if she was sure. She was. That one sentence hurt me more than anything else that happen during that time. My biological father wanted nothing to do with me and now I was seeing it happen with my own child but with his mother. I received full custody and she married within a year afterwards (she had another child too). Her parents try their best to be apart of his life but she still does her best to avoid him. He’s 7 now and used to it, but I know it weights heavily on him. Shit sucks ass but it’s life I guess.

*I just woke up and saw all the upvotes, messages, comments, and awards. I want to say thank you so much. I didn’t expect this level of response. I don’t usually share something as personal as that. My kiddo is a very awesome kid that has shown great resiliency beyond his years. He has rolled through the tough times better than even I. I can just hope he doesn’t question his worth because of what his mom did. I know I questioned mine due to my own father leaving and that has left scars that will not heal. Well…..thank you all again and you all have a wonderful day.

7. Some things just don’t turn out the way you hope.

Not my kid, but my sister I raised for several years. I was a senior in HS when my parents had my sister – completely unexpected. They were 58 and 55. I never really got to know her much as I went away to college when she was 5 months old, and was in the Air Force by the time she was 1 1/2. I saw her twice on leave, and got pics, but the way life was working out we never really got time together. Fast forward, our dad dies when she is 2, and my stepmother is raising her. She was a terrible parent, like the kind that saw one of her kids run away at 16 to halfway across the country, another runaway at 15 and get married, and one that is just a loon who spent his life bouncing around whatever hot MLM program was out there as a career. She also convinced my dad to send me to a pray away the gay camp in TN. when I was 15. So when my sister was 11 and begging for help, I took leave and went to her. Surprisingly, my stepmonster was happy to get attorneys to draw up the paperwork for me to become my sisters guardian, and even pay for it.

— So I’m raising my sister and things are okay until she is about 14. Then I caught her doing these videos online talking dirty trying to get guys to jerk off. So that was a mess of trying to get those down and suing the people that hired her to do them.– Ran away for a week, hiding out at a friends house, found her when she was caught shoplifting.– A B&E charge at 14, trying to steal the phone of a boy she was dating to se if he was talking to other girls. It happened on base and I managed to talk it out of being a bigger thing.– A second B&E charge with friends breaking into the NCO club to try to steal beer. I was told I had to leave base housing at that point, my secuirty clearance was suspended to make sure she wasn’t putting me in a position I could be compromised.– still 14, arrested with a stolen military ID trying to get into a bar.– 15 escapes rehab.– 15 escapes rehab again-16 things seem good and she is taking school seriously.

At 18 she was accepted to RISD, graduated with honors, and had an actual decent paying job with a web company with benefits and everything. Started getting stoned a lot, lost her job. Sold her car to pay bills. Lost her apartment, still hadn’t bothered looking for work. Got her trust fund at 24, blew over $400k in two years, nothing to show for it. Had multiple cases against her for drugs. Was restricted to the state, but decised to go follow Phish around anyway and sell molly. Got picked up for hooking and possession out of state, was returned to RI where she was detained and somehow released pending trial yet again. While awaiting trial she was caught holding enough packaged for sale heroin to qualify as a distribution charge.By then, I hadn’t heard from her for almost 7 years, and only managed to keep up with her reading the police blotter or from rthe ocassional attorney that she had contact me to verify I would pick up her legal tab – I wouldn’t. Against any logic, she was out of prison in under three years. I heard she dimed a bunch of people out to make it happen. She showed up at my house, asking for a place to stay. I said I couldn’t have her in my house, but I’d get her a place for the night and then help her locate a place of her own. That night she broke into my house, nearly got shot by me while doing it, and tried to spin some story that she was looking for something she dropped in my house earlier that day, despite never actually entering my house. I told her she had to go, she threatened she would call DCFS and tell them I was abusing my kids if I didn’t go with her to an ATM and give her all the money I could withdraw. Told her to GTFO before I exercised the castle defense law and dropped her.

took out a restraining order the next day, and in doing so found she once again left state when she wasn’t supposed to have and violated her parole, so back to the clink. Since then she’s been dead to me.

6. It’s impossible to stand by and watch them self-destruct.

A little different, I was disowned, but I deserved it. I was an addict and a mess for a long time, my mom couldn’t keep bailing me out of trouble and watch me self destruct anymore. I wasn’t living at home, she came to see me one last time to tell me she was done, not to contact her, she would no longer have anything to do with me. She was in pieces, I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for her. But it was the best thing she ever did for me, once she cut me off my rock bottom came hard and fast. After a little while of living on the streets and my addiction consuming me, I made my way to a detox center, got a few days clean under my belt and never looked back. That was almost 15 years ago. After I was clean a little while I contacted my mom, and little by little we built a relationship again, and now we’re really close. I am forever grateful to my mom for letting me fall and letting me back into her life.

5. The love never goes away.

she started stealing from us as a kid, then it moved up to forged checks, stole her sisters Christmas gifts. Then there were the multiple arrests, conversion, theft, assault, drugs. The final straw was when she dumped her kid and left town to fool with a married man for several years. Kid is 11, he has had a long haul. Everything she say is just a bunch of lies and more lies. And Yes she has had counselling numerous times. It hurts but it is more peaceful, did I mention the identity theft? Christ, that took a real long time to fix.

edit: she is my step daughter, met her when she was 8, I still love her a lot

4. That is some horribly despicable behavior during a hard time.

My mother and her sister were both adopted into a great family.

Recently, my Grandfather fell ill and we were told to prepare to say goodbye. So the family gathered. My Grandmother has had a hard time with her memory since she had a brain hemorrhage, but she welcomed my aunt into her home during this tough time.

Whilst my Grandfather was in his final week, Wendy (aunt) took my Grandmother’s atm card and proceeded to spend well over a thousand dollars on herself and get herself a motel room. She alsp attempted to steal their car. When my uncles found out, she basically disappeared into the wind.

After my Grandfather passed and his funeral was all sorted. My Grandmother went to an attorney to write Wendy out of any inheritance she would get from their estate when she passes. She didnt press any formal charges, because the whole process would have been lengthy and more painful for her. She didn’t need the extra stress.

I’m pretty sure one of my uncles also threatened Wendy to make sure she stayed away from my Grandmother from now on too.

3. You have to take care of you.

My family disowned me because I disowned my mother. I was sexually groomed and abused/tortured by her husband for years and when I finally told her she not only didn’t believe me, but stayed married to him for seven years. I had to move out at 16 to get away from how I was being treated. Then when I finally began speaking to others she started to cover her ass with her social circle by telling them that I seduced her husband.

I cut her off for years, and didn’t ever want to see her again but my family bullied me to just get over it and have a relationship with my mother and that I was hurting her. Even my sister who knew what happened, knew I stayed for so long to protect her, fell into a trap of my mother whining to everyone around her and painting me as a liar. About 4 years ago she was very suddeny diagnosed with advanced cancer and didn’t have much time. I was moving out of my home state and everyone told me I needed to see her before I left, that I needed to be there, but I didn’t want to. In the end everyone turned their back on me. They were so mad I wouldn’t just forget my trauma just to say goodbye to someone I hadn’t loved for a long time, and rightly so.

EDIT: I’m getting a lot of replies so I just want to say thank you and send you all virtual hugs. I’m ok now, I’m grown up and though I was set back in a lot of ways life-wise I came out on top for the best. Anyone who is also experiencing this you aren’t alone, and if you need to talk I’m here.

2. Talk about losing the lottery.

My parents didn’t “disown” me… I was just a weird mistake. My mother never wanted a child. She bailed after a few months.

My father was a single parent and ended up in prison (life without parole) when I was 14. I finally met my mother. She was a police detective by the time I moved in with her. She threw me out after two months.

I am 30 now, and life is typically a little weird around the holidays, but I always get a good laugh when I tell people that my father is in prison for life and my mother is a cop. But then they get super awkward when I tell them that no… it’s not a joke.

It took a long time for me to come to terms with it, but I know now that none of it was my fault.

EDIT: This blew up way more than I expected. Thanks for all the kind words, everybody!

1. You never know what you’re going to get when you decide to have children.

I have disowned my oldest son. He molested my daughter, has been diagnosed as a sociopath and we have restraining orders against him. It isn’t fun and I never thought I would be that parent.

Never judge a person until you walk a mile in their shoes and all of that!

Do you have a similar story? Have you been on the other side of it? Share with us in the comments!

The post 15 Parents Who Have Disowned Kids Share Their Stories appeared first on UberFacts.

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These Historic Images Show That Gay Men and Women Have Always Existed, Just on the Downlow

A guy who goes by the name Father Nathan Monk has been collecting photos of gay couples from the past in an effort to highlight the struggles those people went through in eras when same-sex lovers weren’t allowed to marry or even to be together.

Monk said:

“I found the photos online through a couple of different posts. I shared them because I think it’s important to remember those that come before us, those that fought, and struggled to live their authentic life. I believe it’s important to be reminded that LGBTQ+ have always been part of society and always will be. That reality should be lovingly accepted instead of shunned and ridiculed.”

Take a look at these interesting photos.

1. From the past…

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

2. In the Navy.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

3. Serving their country.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

4. On the front steps.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

5. A discreet kiss.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

6. This one looks very old.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

7. In Idaho of all places.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

8. Out in public.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

9. Clearly in love.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

10. World War II era.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

11. All dressed up.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

12. On the beach.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

13. A great photo.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

14. I wish I could get a year on this one.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

15. From Russia with love.

Posted by Father Nathan Monk on Monday, March 18, 2019

Love is love!

And it always will be.

The post These Historic Images Show That Gay Men and Women Have Always Existed, Just on the Downlow appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Study Shows That Tattoos Can Strengthen Our Immune Systems

Even though tattoos are pretty trendy at the moment, they’ve actually been around for over 6,000 years. They’re made to express a person’s thoughts, feelings, and or cultural beliefs. Some get them as a source of strength or healing, while others may get them just for fun.

Whatever your reason, have you ever thought about what tattoos do to your body? Like, for example, how might your immune system react to getting your skin dyed?

Funny you asked…

Christopher Lynn has been studying Samoan tattooing culture “and the impact of the big traditional pieces called pe’a and malu — tatau in general — on the immune system.”

The Samoa study is actually the fourth phase of his research about how tattoos interact with a person’s immune system. He first started with a group of mostly women in Alabama, and he found an interesting outcome.

“What I’d observed among that group suggested that tattooing could help beef up one’s immune response.”

But one study was not enough to gain a solid understanding of how or why. So he explored further, and that led him to Samoa:

“That’s why I traveled in 2018 with fellow anthropologist Michaela Howells to the Samoan Islands. Samoans have a long, continuous history of extensive tattooing. Working with contemporary machine and hand-tap tattooists in American Samoa, we wanted to see if we’d find the same link to enhanced immune response.”

Photo Credit: Unsplash, Allef Vinicius

What happens to your body when you get a tattoo?

Whenever you sit for a tattoo, you are allowing ink-coated needle pricks to penetrate your epidermis. This sends a warning to your immune system that these small “wounds” need healing. Your body responds in two ways. First:

“…getting a new tattoo triggers your immune system to send white blood cells called macrophages to eat invaders and sacrifice themselves to protect against infection.”

It will also send a level of adaptive responses to the area in the form of proteins. These proteins help the skin heal, but they also keep an eye out for this to happen again in the future.

“There are several classes of these proteins — called antibodies or immunoglobulins — and they continue to circulate in the bloodstream, on the lookout lest that same invader is encountered again. They’re at the ready to quickly launch an immune response the next time around.”

It’s like these little antibodies know how addictive tattooing is!

How is the level of antibodies and white blood cells measured to understand the immune systems reaction?

Photo Credit: Unsplash, Joel Muniz

“This adaptive capacity of the immune system means that we could measure immunoglobulins in saliva as approximations of previous stress caused by tattooing.”

During the study, Lynn and anthropologist Michaela Howells sampled 25 tattoo recipients, both Samoan and non-Samoan tourists to the island.

“We collected saliva at the start and end of each tattoo session, controlling for the tattoo duration. We also measured recipients’ weight, height and fat density to account for health. From the saliva samples, we extracted the antibody immunoglobulin A, as well as the stress hormone cortisol and inflammatory marker C-reactive protein. Immunoglobulin A is considered a frontline immune defense and provides important protections against frequent pathogens like those of the common cold.”

They determined that immunoglobulin A remained higher in the bloodstream even after a tattoo fully healed. Also, if one of the recipients received a larger tattoo, leaving them under the needle longer, the saliva produced more immunoglobulin A than those who experienced smaller tattoos

It seems that getting a tattoo for the first time primed the recipient’s bodies. Meaning, it ramped up their immune system to fight back in case there is a next time. Even if they chose not to get additional tattoos, their immune systems were still heightened in case they get sick. It’s the body’s way of preparing for future ailments due to body stress.

“Stress’s bad rap comes from chronic forms that really do undermine immune response and health. But a little bit is actually good for you and prepares your body to fight off germs. Regular exercise provides immune function benefits through repetition, not necessarily single visits to the gym. We think this is similar to how each tattoo seems to prepare the body for vigilance.”

Even though these findings sparked more interest on what tattoo can do to keep you “healthier,” you may want to wait before going out and covering your body in ink. Lynn is still exploring the ramifications.

“Our Samoan findings supported the results of my first study in Alabama. But of course correlation does not imply causation. Enhanced immune response is correlated with more tattoo experience, but maybe healthier people heal easily from tattooing and like to get them more. How could we find out if getting tattoos could actually make a person healthier?”

I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

The post A Study Shows That Tattoos Can Strengthen Our Immune Systems appeared first on UberFacts.

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When Is the Best Time of Day to Exercise?

What time of day do you like to exercise? Would you change your mind if science suggested one of those were a better time?

Maybe, maybe not (for me). But if you’re curious, here are a few things to consider.

Photo Credit: Unsplash, Sam Knight

What does the early bird get?

So, morning or evening? Well, it gets a bit complicated.

Throughout the health and wellness community, there are people who swear by “fasted training” for losing weight; the idea is that working out on an empty stomach burns fat to melt away the pounds. Fasted training is often done in the morning, before breakfast.

But studies have been mixed. “Fed training,” when you eat before a workout, has been shown to help spark your body’s energy so that you can have a strong workout.

So which is better?

Well, the evidence says that it depends on your personal body composition, so you need to decide what works. Also, more important than either fed or fasted training is consistency. We all know there are tons of reasons in life why you might skip the gym – and that’s a major pro to getting your workout out of the way in the morning.

Photo Credit: Unsplash, Scott Webb

But evening workouts also have their perks…

Throughout the day, your body warms up, making your evening workout better. Also, your muscles cells contain biological clocks that abide by your circadian rhythms, which are regulated by your larger internal clock and sleeping regimes. What that means is that “…muscle cells are more efficient during an organism’s normal waking hours.”

So if you are into strength training and weight lifting, evening hours could be your best bet, as your muscles are at optimal efficiency and maintain higher levels of testosterone. Not to mention that later workouts have been shown to increase focus and energy.

Back to the question: which is better?

Well, sorry to do this to you, but it depends on the person. Perhaps the most important factor to consider is consistency, if you’re working toward weight loss goals. But if you’re looking for other types of gains, then you should consider muscle fatigue, sleep, and your schedule larger. If you ever see a trainer at the gym, they can give you a bit more advice specific to your body composition and goals.

But as long as you’re doing exercise, you are on your way!

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A Dad’s Library Books Method Could Turn Your Kid into a Lifelong Reader

If you love reading, it’s extremely tough to watch your own offspring shun the delightful bit of escapism.

As with all things, the more you try to push it on them, the more your child is likely to resist – which means you’re stuck waiting for a miraculous change to happen on its own, or resorting to underhanded tricks to maneuver them into giving it a shot.

Now, I’m not normally a fan of sneaking things into my kids’ minds and lives, but when it comes to instilling a lifelong love of reading, I’m willing to make an exception.

And according to writer and software developer Christopher Reiss, this trick 100% worked on him when his dad pulled it many years ago.

And if this simple, tried and true trick worked on him when he was 8, it could work on your little too.

 

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Here it is: leave a library book in their room, but don’t say a word about it unless they ask.

Christopher says that books began to appear – different genres, some children’s books but not all of them – and then, after a week, they were replaced, whether he read them or not.

He never did, but his dad didn’t quit. For months, he left the books, saying, “Just give it a look.”

Then, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe caught Christopher’s eye, and for the first time, he began to turn the pages. Eventually, he went excitedly to his father to discuss the plot.

 

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“My dad didn’t praise me. He received the news with feigned distraction.”

Christopher didn’t realize until later that all of this was orchestrated.

He finished the book, and when another didn’t appear, he questioned his father about it.

His dad told him to check his closet, “A gateway to a magic kingdom,” and when he did, he found the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia inside.

From there his dad leapt to A Wrinkle in Time and then to other classic science fiction and fantasy as he learned exactly what his son enjoyed.

 

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He also was as likely to offer adult books as children’s, and was available to discuss whenever Christopher wanted.

“I was reading constantly by 9. By 10, just turn me loose in a bookstore or the library and I’d emerge with an armload of books.”

So, there you go, parents. As with most things, if you let your kids think they’ve discovered it on their own, they’re more likely to embrace it for a lifetime.

And reading is a wonderful love to pass along, no matter how it gets handed down.

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A Woman Woman Born with Two Vaginas and Two Wombs Becomes a Mother of Four

In all seriousness, I had never heard of such a thing. Two vaginas?

34-year-old Australian Lauren Cotter was born with uterus didelphys, meaning she had two cervices, two uteruses, and twi vaginas. It is a birth defect that affects 1 in 3,000 women, and it can cause excruciating periods and abnormal bleeding. It can also cause infertility and/or miscarriages.

Lauren was diagnosed at the age of 16 after she went to the doctor for her excruciating menstrual cycles. The doctor performed a pelvic exam and ultrasound to come to the diagnosis. He also told her that conceiving children would be difficult, if not impossible.

Posted by Lauren Cotter on Friday, January 18, 2019

She decided to have surgery to correct her double vagina, which would give her a more fulfilling sex life. When she was 17, she met her future husband and shared the news that pregnancy may not be an option.

“From quite early on, Ben and I discussed having children and it was clear that he really wanted to be a dad,” she told PA Real Life.

“I knew I had to be open and honest and tell him that might not be a possibility for me.”

So what happened? They married and tried anyway.

“We have found it easy to fall pregnant,” she said. “I am not sure why, or if it has anything to do with my two vaginas.”

With her diagnosis, Lauren understood there would be complications, but they stayed strong.

“We knew it might be a bumpy road and tried not to get our hopes up too much,” said Lauren.

In 2014, their first daughter, Amelie, was born via C-Section, completely healthy. Lauren and her husband decided to try again.  About a year and a half later they had no trouble. The crazy thing was that Harvey was born from her left womb when Amelia was born from the right!

“I carried Amelie in my right, and just assumed the left one was a dud,” said Lauren

Harvey was born prematurely at 4 pounds, 12 ounces and had difficulty swallowing. But after 3 weeks he was released in good health.

After that, the Cotters felt it best to go on birth control due to her medical history

“The [birth control] pill was giving me migraines and I couldn’t use [an IUD] coil, so in the end, the implant was the only option left,” she said.

Posted by Lauren Cotter on Sunday, May 12, 2019

But low and behold, she became pregnant with TWINS! Apparently, this family has no problems with infertility.

“‘Shocked’ doesn’t begin to cover it. During 17 years together, Ben and I had only ever got pregnant when we’d planned it. Now, here we were, having surprise twins. My doctor was very honest and said he couldn’t know how the pregnancy was going to play out.”

The doctors ordered her to bed rest for 19 weeks in order to help with any potential complications. But luckily, Lauren didn’t seem to suffer any. After 37 weeks, Maya and Evie were born each weighing about 5 pounds.

Ben and Lauren are through the moon with their family and decided to take measures to prevent future pregnancies; Lauren had her fallopian tubes tied. She said, “Ben and I are one super-fertile couple, and now we’re happy with things just as they are.”

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10 Chilling True Stories from Residents of Small, Secluded Towns

We all love stories about a creepy, small town, lost in the woods – the sort of place where things…happen…

It’s the myth that launched a million horror movies, but the thing is, maybe it isn’t so fictional.

When AskReddit posed the question, “Redditor’s who live in secluded towns, what is the darkest thing that happened in your town but is kept secret?” they got some very spooky answers.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

10. Oh hell, no.

My mom told me this story once that back when she was growing up in a small farming community in Ohio, there was some kind of neighborhood party attended by a bunch of families with kids all around the same age. All the kids (including herself) had this like big slumber party in the basement.

They wake up the next morning and one of the kids is found in the middle of the road, having been hit with a truck, but with his whole body zipped all the way up in his sleeping bag. None of the kids owned up to doing and it the adults could never figure it out either. After a while people just started moving on with their lives and everyone pretty much forgot about it.

9. What town is this? Never going there.

So there is this building that used to be a hotel and one day this guy shows up and he takes multiple trips going in and out with a bunch of equipment. They found him a little while later in his room. He had assembled an entire guillotine and cut his head off.

8. This doctor must not be into killing children…

I was delivered by a serial killer doctor. I don’t remember all the details but he was killing patients in Canada.

7. Did M. Night Shyamalan use this in a movie?

Small Town of about 2000-2500 in the Midwest, when suddenly about 1/4th of the population just up and left. No word, no nothing. None of them had kids or extended family and none of the papers said anything about it. This was back in maybe the late 80’s.

This happened when I was pretty young but I just remember one day one of my teachers wasn’t there and I found out from my parents a ton of people had just left overnight. Most personal belongings were taken with them but mattresses and furniture was still in their houses.

I still have no clue what that was about and when I’ve asked my parents more recently they said the rumor around town was that all those people worked for the CIA or FBI and were re-assigned all of a sudden.

6. Love never dies.

The “doctor” who tried all these wacky treatments to save his young patient from tuberculosis and became infatuated with her. After she died he eventually robbed her grave, mummified her and lived with her body for seven years before being found out. Did not go to jail and lived his years out in town I believe.

5. So sad.

Over the summer there was a guy found hanging from a tree on the sheriffs property.

The sheriff disliked this young man and treated him poorly during his incarceration at the county jail. Many witnesses said that the day he got released from jail, the sheriff invited him to his secluded property and told him he could help him get back on his feet.

2 days later, a couple of teenage boys fishing in a creek discovered the guy hanging in a tree. Authorities was notified, no investigation was done, and it was immediately ruled a suicide.

This boy was a known drug addict with no family or friends, so there was really no one to press the issue. The local news wrote a small article on “man found dead from apparent suicide” and then it was hush hush after that… It’s just one of those things we will never know.

4. This makes me ill…

I wouldn’t say we live in a secluded town, but when my mother was in school her best friend got a job working for the Sheriff. She later came to school and told them that the sheriff had been molesting her.

She also began telling people about what they have been using the tunnels under the town for. The police supposedly, had been filming child pornography.

After that day she never made it home. She was found later naked, hog tied and shot in the back of the head. No one could prove it, and the sheriff had been suspected of many things but nothing ever came of it. They just announced that there was a man seen in a white van abducting people.

But her friends knew. Her family knows.

This is Red Bluff California btw. The tunnels were originally used by Chinese immigrants, they go through our Main Street and through Rio Street, they lead to houses and some businesses but they have been condemned. There are sensors down there though so if you get in the police are right there to get you out.

3. Justice finally served.

Nothing with me but when my mom was a kid she lived near a state park in New Hampshire. It’s called bear brook. In the 80s multiple dismembered body parts were found in a blue barrel. An investigation happened but the killer was never found. In the early 00s another barrel was found, dating back to the time of the first barrel. The killer was recently found. His name was Robert Evans. The park is in Allenstown if you want to look it up.

2. Straight up horror movie worthy.

When my mom was growing up, a teacher and his wife were killed by an axe murderer. Someone broke into their house and killed them in the middle of the night. They found the husband in the house and the wife in the woods behind it, indicating that she tried to escape and was chased down. Really gruesome stuff. The attack was seemingly random, and they never caught the person responsible. My elementary school was named after the teacher, which wouldn’t necessarily be morbid except for the fact that there was a dedication plaque that mentioned his murder. In an elementary school. The 90’s were fucking wild.

1. JEEZ.

A guy in my hometown was dismembered and left on someones doorstep.

The info is this, the guy who did it had enough dirt on cops/district attorneys/judges to not be arrested for pushing meth working with the Dixie Mafia (yes a real group)

The victim, who was a couple of grades below me, was rumored to be working with the FEDS to get his POS dad off his 6th or 7th drug conviction. The victim, who was friends with another kid, (lived at the house) was dismembered and left on the doorstep in a move to intimidate.

Are you officially creeped out? Go lock your doors and stay away from secluded towns! YIKES!

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