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Joy

10 things that made us smile this week

smile uplifting viral

This week's roundup of delightful finds from around the internet.

Hello friends!

It probably shouldn't be surprising, but this week's roundup of delightful finds from around the internet is saturated with babies. Not just human babies, but animal babies, too. Hilarious babies. Adorable babies. Babies babies babies.

It makes sense, what with their unbearable cuteness and all. Babies are the best. No matter how ugly things get in the world, we can always look at the sweet innocence of new life to remind ourselves of humanity's potential. We can delight in the wonderment of their discoveries and try to capture some of that wholesome curiosity ourselves. We can revel in their smiles and giggles and share that contagious joy with others.


Of course, if babies don't make you smile (is that really a thing? no way that's a thing) there are some other fun finds here as well, from a silly Wordle parody to a heartwarming gush of library love.

Enjoy!

Woman stops traffic to help a mama duck and her zillion ducklings cross the street.

A human taking the initiative to help a little animal family avoid getting squished by cars is really sweet. But it's the way the mama duck follows the woman's hand signals that does me in. How does she know??? (And how on Earth does she have that many ducklings at once?)

Author Clint Smith reminds us that public libraries are one of the greatest human inventions.

Writers make money selling books, so saying "get my book for free from a library" is awesome. It's also a reminder that libraries are one of the best things humans have ever come up with. "I mean think about it, a place where you can go and get books...for free!" Smith wrote. "And then pass them along to someone else. And then...get even more books. And it's open to everyone. What a concept! It's a testament to public community institutions, and one we shouldn't take for granted."

Tired of winter? Let these kitties being fascinated with the snow refresh you.

Those of us who live in the northern climes are pretty much over the snow by mid-February. But seeing these cats' wonderment at watching the snow fall is a good reminder of how magical it can be.

Speaking of the magic of snow, watch this humongo doggo freak out over a little lip of snow.

He gives it a go several times, chickens out each time, and then absolutely refuses. Hilarious.

And this tiger kitty spooking its enormous mama momma is hilarious, too.

Snow tigers are gorgeous, aren't they? This little one's pounce is so cute, but its mom's genuinely startled reaction is too funny.

This 3-year-old reacting to "Goofy" calling her through her walkie-talkie is too adorable.

@zeth

I don’t know if we can top this reaction 😂

The video was shared last summer, but it's my first time seeing it. I've now watched it a dozen times. The little mini-hyperventilation is just the best. And the "And he answered!" Find more Zeth and Saylor here.

"A Whole New Wordle" parody hilariously nails the word game phenomenon.

"Let me share my Wordle score with youu..." The Holderness Family does awesome parody videos, and they hit all the high spots in the Wordle phenomenon with this one.

This monkey momma is all mommas. 

"Hey, get down from there!"

"Okay, momma. Now lemme smother you with big, open-mouthed kisses."

Basically parenting a wee one in a nutshell.

Dad gets baby to stop crying in 18 seconds and is so happy about it.

@tuquedaddy

Reply to @king.marcellius I wanna see people try!! Duet this and try if you can!! I wanna see y’all super heroes 🥰🥰🥰 #tuquedaddy #fypシ #parenting

Sorry for the first 10 seconds of this video—baby cries are torturous. But the way he talks to his son and the smile on his face at the end is just the sweetest. That is one dang cute baby. Read more about this video and the baby hold here.

Speaking of cute babies, check out this little one discovering the joy of cheese.

Mmmm, the queso promised land. Been there, baby. Same smile and everything.

Hope you enjoyed this week's roundup! Come back next week for more snippets of delight to make your week a little brighter.

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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Family

Dad gives his young daughter a 'spa day' while mom and sister are out and people are gushing

"This healed a part of me. Thank you for doing this with your daughter."

Mason Smith pampered his baby girl during her "spa day."

Raising kids is no small feat. Just the basic logistics of caring for a human being from their helpless newborn stage to the full-fledged adult stage is a lot, much less doing the countless other things that will actually help that human thrive.

Parents who go above and beyond to create a nurturing environment and build strong core memories with their kids are inspiring examples for us all, and one dad's spa day with his daughter has people positively gushing.

Mason Smith (@thedadsocial) shared a video of a special spa day he gave his young daughter when her mom and older sister were having their own pampered outing. "Mom and sister went to the salon so I couldn't have her feeling left out," he wrote.

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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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