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10 things that made us smile this week

10 things that made us smile this week

Need a break from the doom and gloom headlines? Of course you do. We all do.

Here's this week's round-up of fun, joyful, uplifting things to bring some peace to your heart and a smile to your face.

1. This mom sent a photocopy of her phone in the mail, which prompted a flood of endearing tech fail stories.

It's hard to call these stories "tech fails" when they're so fabulous. They're more like time capsule stories that remind us of the incredible advances our elders have seen during their lifetimes. Read them here.

2. A mom turning 50 next month shows off the skateboarding skills she's worked on for the past nine years.

How many people pick up a sport like skateboarding in their 40s? This is just awesome. Go, mama, go.


3. You think it's just a baby goat noshing on some berries, but then you see its companion.

Why? No idea. Totally unexpected, and totally adorable.

4. This fussy baby lights up at hearing Rick James, and who can blame her really?

"My daughter has an out-of-control obsession with Rick James," says the caption. Look at her face when he starts singing!

5. Kids and music are always a winning combo. These second graders dancing just proves it.

Dance is one of the most instinctual forms of artistic expression, and kids dancing is just too delightful.

6. Old folks dancing is pretty delightful, too.

May we all have this much joyful energy this late in life.

7. A new insulin that doesn't need refrigeration is a game-changer for people with diabetes.

Diabetics have to figure out how to keep their insulin cold when they're away from home, which is a pain when traveling and a hindrance to many activities. Yay for scientists coming up with thermostable insulin. Read the story here.

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8. Supermarkets in the Netherlands are adding "chat checkouts" for lonely people.

Seniors in particular can often feel isolated, so grocers in the Netherlands have created slower checkout lanes geared toward the elderly to combat loneliness. Clerks are encouraged to take time to talk with their customers, rather than get them through the line as quickly as possible. How sweet is that? Read about the initiative here.

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9. Rainbows are actually full circles and my mind is blown in the best way.

No need to look for the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, because there is no end. Because rainbows are circles. I REPEAT, RAINBOWS ARE CIRCLES. I had no idea, and this video is amazing.

10. If you're still searching for some zen, these dolphins ought to do it.

Gorgeous blue water? Check. Dolphins playing in the surf? Check. Rainbow? Check. All is well.

Hope that gave you the mood boost you needed! There truly is so much joy and beauty in our world. We just have to remember to look for it and share it with others when we find it.


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Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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Democracy

This Map Reveals The True Value Of $100 In Each State

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

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Family

Woman bakes cheeky curse word pies for her grandma and it becomes a quirky holiday tradition

2023's pie is an homage to her favorite word to use while stuck in traffic.

Canva

You never know where a holiday tradition will come from.

Tried-and-true holiday traditions certainly have their merit, but there’s something quite special, magical even, about discovering personal rituals that commemorate one’s unique life. In my household, for instance, nothing quite rings in the Christmas spirit like sipping my partner’s delicious coquito and putting up a cardboard gingerbread house for my cats.

The beauty of creating customized holiday traditions is that they can be as festive, sentimental, or as silly as you want them to be. And you never know how one small moment can become the catalyst for a tradition that sparks joy year after year.

For Jess Lydon, that tradition is baking expletive-laden pies for Thanksgiving. (This is your profanity warning—the images below contain swear words.)

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3,700-year-old Babylonian stone tablet gets translated, changes history

They were doing trigonometry 1500 years before the Greeks.

via UNSW

Dr. Daniel Mansfield and his team at the University of New South Wales in Australia have just made an incredible discovery. While studying a 3,700-year-old tablet from the ancient civilization of Babylon, they found evidence that the Babylonians were doing something astounding: trigonometry!

Most historians have credited the Greeks with creating the study of triangles' sides and angles, but this tablet presents indisputable evidence that the Babylonians were using the technique 1,500 years before the Greeks ever were.

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Peter Bence's piano cover of "Africa" by Toto

Peter Bence’s performance of “Africa” by Toto has over 17 million views on YouTube because of his creative reimagining of the song and, well, just about everyone loves “Africa.”

Bence is a Hungarian composer and producer who has become a viral sensation for his Michael Jackson, Queen, Sia, and Beatles covers. He has over 1.1 million followers on YouTube and has toured the globe, playing in more than 40 countries across four continents.

His performance of “Africa'' is unique because it opens with him creating a rhythm track and looping it by strategically tapping the piano and rubbing its strings to create the sound of shakers and congo drums.

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Joy

Family posts a very chill note to neighbors explaining why their dog is on the roof

“We appreciate your concern but please do not knock on our door.."

via Reddit

Meet Huckleberry the dog.

If you were taking a stroll through a quiet neighborhood and happened to catch a glance of this majestic sight, you might bat an eye. You might do a double take. If you were (somewhat understandably) concerned about this surprising roof-dog's welfare, you might even approach the homeowners to tell them, "Uh, I'm not sure if you know...but there's a...dog...on your ROOF."

Well, the family inside is aware that there's often a dog on their roof. It's their pet Golden, Huckleberry, and he just sorta likes it up there.

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Family

12 hilariously relatable comics about life as a new mom.

Embarrassing stains on your T-shirt, sniffing someone's bum to check if they have pooped, the first time having sex post-giving birth — as a new mom, your life turns upside-down.

All illustrations by Ingebritt ter Veld. Reprinted here with permission.

Some good not so good moments with babies.



Embarrassing stains on your T-shirt, sniffing someone's bum to check if they have pooped, the first time having sex post-giving birth — as a new mom, your life turns upside-down.

Illustrator Ingebritt ter Veld and Corinne de Vries, who works for Hippe-Birth Cards, a webshop for birth announcements, had babies shortly after one another.

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