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Joy

10 things that made us smile this week

10 things that made us smile this week

Upworthy's roundup of joyful finds from around the internet.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Spring is springing here in the Northern Hemisphere, and even though the same thing happens every year, it never gets old. No matter how long and dark and cold the winter gets (for those of us in the northern climes, anyway), the sun always comes out, the greenery always returns and the flowers always blossom.

It's refreshing and beautiful and life-giving, every time—and a metaphorical reminder that growth and renewal are possible. There are rainy days and muddy messes and old, dead stuff to clear out of the way, but it's all in the service of life reasserting itself.

It's the season for celebrating hope, friends. Let's do it.


This week's round-up of internet delights includes humans being excellent to each other, people sharing their amazing talents, animals being hilarious and sweet, and heartwarming examples of support and unconditional love. It's joy and hope in 10 small packages, which when you put them all together, will hopefully give you a little boost in your faith in humanity.

Enjoy:

Epic proof that dance = the great unifier.

I mean, this is literally nothing but pure human joy.

The crowd hushed for this blind basketball player to hear the hoop—then went wild when she made it.

Jules Hoogland is a junior at Zeeland East High School in Michigan, and she plays on the United Sports team, which organizes teams with and without disabilities to play together. Awesome example of meaningful inclusion. Read the full story here.

The musical talents of the Wilson family are just PHEW.

Like, DANG. Even the wee one! So impressive.

Skaters helped an elder ride a skateboard for the first time and she was so stoked. 

@kevperez_

Wholesome Content ❤️ *EXTENTED VERSION*…I filmed this in Washington D.C April 2017 #skateboarding #skate #wholesome

Gotta love a little intergenerational sharing.

Macaw enjoying a bath—and objecting to the human turning off the faucet.

"Did I say I was done?" indeed. Macaws are a species of parrot, and parrots are said to have the approximate intelligence of a human toddler, so this isn't surprising. Still delightful, though.

Bap that fish, kitten!

@catoriess

kitten plays ipad games #fypシ

Ah, what the wonders of the modern world can do.

Doggos playing some good old-fashioned keepy uppy.

This is genuinely impressive. Look at the air some of them get!

And then there's this doggo who just loves on everyone.

Totally in love. Golden retrievers aren't known as one of the friendliest dog breeds for nothing.

Anne Hathaway blows Kelly Clarkson away with her own song in a karaoke competition.

You'd think going up against Kelly Clarkson in a singing competition would be a huge mistake, but Anne Hathaway can hold her own. And Clarkson's reaction to missing her own song is hilarious. Read the full story and watch the full segment here.

The love of Ketanji Brown Jackson's family during her opening statement was so beautiful.

The tears her husband wiped away. The look of knowing admiration on their daughter's face. Her parents were in the crowd, too, their faces beaming with pride. A beautiful highlight in this historic moment. Read the full story here.

Hope that restored a little calm and joy to your heart at the end of a long week. Come back again next Friday for another roundup of smile-worthy finds from around the internet.

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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It's incredible what a double-sided magnet can do.


A new trend in treasure hunting called magnet fishing has blown up over the past two years, evidenced by an explosion of YouTube channels covering the hobby. Magnet fishing is a pretty simple activity. Hobbyists attach high-powered magnets to strong ropes, drop them into waterways and see what they attract.

The hobby has caught the attention of law enforcement and government agencies because urban waterways are a popular place for criminals to drop weapons and stolen items after committing a crime. In 2019, a magnet fisherman in Michigan pulled up an antique World War I mortar grenade and the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate.


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Pop Culture

Woman was mocked online for calling an $80 purse a 'luxury item.' Her response went viral.

"I'm so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money.”

@zohtaco/TikTok

Zoe Gabriel, showing off her new purse from Charles & Keith

Insults of any kind are painful, but jabs towards someone’s financial status are their own breed.

In January 2023, Singapore-based Zoe Gabriel was on the receiving end of this particular flavor of mockery when she posted a TikTok about a purse from local retail brand Charles & Keith—a gift bought for her by her father.

In her excitement, the 17-year-old called the bag, which costs around $80, a “luxury” item as she unwrapped it. Her excitement was sadly cut short by some of the negative comments she received.

One comment seemed to stand out above the rest and prompted Gabriel to post an emotional response video.

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Ring doorbell video captures what it's like to be the default parent.

Kids, man. I'm not sure of the scientific way audacity is distributed, but kids have a lot of it and somehow make it cute. That audacity overload is especially interesting when you're the default parent—you know, the parent kids go to for literally everything as if there's not another fully capable adult in the house. Chances are if your children haven't sought you out while you were taking a shower so you could open up a pack of fruit snacks, then you're not the default parental unit.

One parent captured exactly what it's like to be the default parent and shared it to TikTok, where the video has over 4 million views. Toniann Marchese went on a quick grocery run and *gasp* did not inform her children. Don't you fret, they're modern kids who know how to use modern means to get much-needed answers when mom is nowhere to be found. They went outside and rang the doorbell.

Back when we were children, this would've done nothing but make the dogs bark, but for Marchese's kids, who are 3 and 6 years old, it's as good as a phone call.

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Pop Culture

'American Idol' contestant has perfect response to Katy Perry's 'mom-shaming' joke

The 25-year-old used the moment to stand up for moms everywhere.

@sarabethliebe/TikTok

"Keep loving your babies."

You might recall us singing the praises of Sara Beth, the exuberant young mom with major vocal chops dubbed the “Accidental American Idol.”

During Sara Beth’s initial audition for the show, judge Katy Perry made a joke that rubbed many viewers the wrong way.

Before Sara Beth even began to sing, the 25-year-old revealed that she had three children, which prompted Katy Perry to dramatically stand up from her seat and feign shock. When Sara Beth, all smiles, said, “If Katy lays on the table, I think I’m going to pass out,” Perry retorted, “Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much.”

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YouTube creator Steve Mould shows us what echo looks like through an acoustic camera.

It’s bizarre to think about seeing sound, but nowadays we can do just that. If you haven’t seen an acoustic camera before, that’s because they’re mainly used for industrial purposes, but they’ve been available commercially from gfai tech since 2001.

YouTuber Steve Mould, who has a science channel with over 2.1 million subscribers, took the complicated concept of the acoustic camera and made it easy to understand in his latest video, “Acoustic cameras can SEE sound.”

In the video, Mould explains how an acoustic camera is much like your smartphone's video recorder. But it also creates visual representations of sound emanating from where it’s generated within the video.

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