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Well Being

10 smile-worthy moments from this week to boost your mood

10 smile-worthy moments from this week to boost your mood

Need a mood boost to help you sail through the weekend? Here are 10 moments that brought joy to our hearts and a smile to our faces this week. Enjoy!

1. How much does this sweet little boy adore his baby sister? So darn much.

Oh, to be loved with this much enthusiasm! The sheer adoration on his face. What a lucky little sister.

2. Teens raise thousands for their senior trip, then donate it to their community instead.

When it came time for Islesboro Central School's Class of 2021 to pick the destination for their senior class trip, the students began eyeing a trip to Greece or maybe even South Korea. But in the end, they decided to donate $5,000 they'd raised for the trip to help out their community members struggling in the wake of the pandemic instead.


Read the story here.


3. Radio DJ rallies community to help a man he saw walking 6 hours a day to and from work.

After veteran Chicago radio personality "Ramblin' Ray" Stevens noticed Braxton Mayes, 20, walking during his commute from work several times, he offered him a ride. Then, when he found out Mayes walked 3 hours each way to and from work because his car broke down, he called on the community to help him get his car fixed. Read the full story here.

Fox 32 Chicago/YouTube


4. Just for the sheer adorableness of it, this red panda noshing on snacks while getting weighed.

Stop it. How cute can a video get? It doesn't even look real. Gah. Now desperately feeling the need to find a red panda.

5. Speaking of adorable animals, this wild Canada goose couple is winning hearts all over the place.

Arnold is a Canada goose that lives near the Cape Wildlife Center with his life partner, and after he was taken to the center to be treated for injuries, she showed up at the door looking for him. The staff let her see him while he was getting oxygen after his surgery, and they both calmed down as she started grooming him. Goose love is real, folks. Read the full story here.

6. This dedicated dad wanted to surprise his Moana-loving kids, and The Rock made it happen.

We love The Rock. It's hard not to when you see videos like this one. (And kudos to the dad for keeping up with his rap. Not easy, even when you're a parent who's heard the soundtrack a million times.)

7. Mama cat introducing her kitten to her best doggo friend.

This is what we call "Pupworthy" content. You can almost hear the dialogue happening. So dang sweet.

8. A little perspective—our beautiful home planet viewed from space.

There are more than 7 billion of us here on this little rock hurtling through space, and while we definitely have our issues to work out, this short video is a stunning reminder that we're all one people, part of one earthly home.

9. This joy-filled commentary of Friday feeding time at Caen Hill farm is a perfect timeline cleanser.

Caen Hill Countryside Centre is a charity in Devizes, United Kingdom that helps young people and rescues animals, and we would like this gentleman to narrate all of the happenings in our daily lives, please.


10. If you still feel like you're stumbling instead of sailing into the weekend, don't fret. You're not alone.

We hope perusing these stories lifted your spirit, but if it didn't, that's okay. Sometimes we just need to just flop down and rest on our faces for a while. Thanks, doggo, for the solidarity.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone.

Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

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via Pexels

A mom takes a selfie with her two children.

France’s National Assembly has passed a new law that could seriously impact parents’ ability to share photos of their children online. If passed by the Senate and signed by the president, it would give courts the power to ban parents from posting pictures of their children online.

The bill is controversial because it takes away parents’ rights and puts them in the hands of the government. But supporters believe there are more than a few good reasons for the potential ban.

First, it keeps the child’s image out of the hands of unsavory characters. Member of Parliament Bruno Studer, who proposed the bill, told Le Monde, “'A 13-year-old child has an average of 1,300 images of themselves circulating on the internet. These are photos that can be misused for child pornography or that can lead to bullying in the school environment.”

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Joy

An 8-year-old snuck his handwritten book onto a library shelf. Now it has a 56-person waiting list.

Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel— written by "Dillon His Self"—captured the hearts of his local librarians and their patrons.

Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel captured the hearts of his local librarians.

Writing a book is no easy task, even for adult professional writers. Many would-be authors dream of a day when their work can be found on library shelves, unsure if it will ever come.

But for 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, that day has already arrived—in truly unconventional fashion—thanks to his own determination to make it happen.

Dillon wrote his 81-page graphic novel, "The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis" (written by "Dillon His Self") in a hardcover journal with colored pencils over the course of a few days. He even put a label on the back of the book that reads "Made in Idho" [sic] and put an illustrated spine label on it as well. Then, without telling anyone, he brought it to his local library in Boise, Idaho, and slipped it in among the books in the children's section.

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Bruce Willis recently celebrated his 68th birthday.

Back in March 2022, legendary action actor Bruce Willis was diagnosed with aphasia and took an official step away from the spotlight. Then, in February 2023, the beloved "Die Hard" star progressed into frontotemporal dementia, an incurable brain disorder often mistaken for Alzheimer’s that mainly affects personality, behavior and language, according to the Mayo Clinic.


Despite the tragic news, Willis is supported by loved ones, as seen in a video posted by ex-wife Demi Moore. The clip, posted to Twitter on March 19, captures Willis' family surrounding him in celebration of his 68th birthday.
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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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Pop Culture

Kelly Clarkson correctly pronouncing a guest's name on her show seems simple but it speaks volumes

Viewers appreciated how respectfully Clarkson handled her interview with K-pop group TWICE when she asked performer Tzuyu how to properly pronounce her name.

The Kelly Clarkson Show/Youtube

It really is as simply as that.

What’s in a name?

A lot, actually. We know that names reflect certain aspects of one’s identity. We know that repeated mispronunciation of a person’s name potentially undermines that identity. We know that sometimes this is unintentional, and other times, more insidious intentions of “othering” are at play. Especially when it comes to those with non-English names.

We also know that, on the flip side, making the effort to properly pronounce a person’s name is one of the simplest forms of kindness and respect that someone can offer. And it really pays dividends.

Just take a page from Kelly Clarkson’s book.
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