Cloe2mars

Bad news sells, so the media tends to focus on the negative things and ignores some of the things that make the world a better place. That’s why we want to share this list of 30 happy facts to remind you about the bright side of life.

Everything started when a Reddit user asked others to post facts that made them happy. This list grew rapidly because people couldn’t get enough of random facts about people and the world that make them smile. Later, Buzzfeed took this list and matched it to pictures adding a couple of new facts. Now, we’re having a go at improving it by adding a couple of our own finds.

What’s better than knowing that somewhere out there in the world, sea otters are holding hands, cows have best friends, and that there are monkeys in Japan that buy snacks from vending machines with change? What other happy facts do you know?

1. Sea otters hold hands when they sleep to keep from drifting apart.

Image credits: commons.wikimedia.org

2. When you were born, you were, for a moment, the youngest person on earth.

Image credits: Gonzalo Merat

3. The elements that we are composed of were formed in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are all made of star dust.

Image credits: Michael Shainblum

4. Cows have best friends.

Image credits: mare

5. A prison in Washington pairs up “death row” shelter cats with select inmates as part of a rehabilitation program. It seems to be a pretty wonderful thing for both the inmates and the cats.

Princess Natalie relaxes with Joseph Contreras, one of her caretakers. (Image credits: catster.com)

6. Blind people smile even though they’ve never seen anyone else smile.

Image credits: Sachiho

7. Turtles can breathe through their butts.

Image credits: TaraDSturm

8. The Beatles used the word “love” 613 times in their songs.

Image credits: inspirationaldaily.wordpress.com

9. Squirrels plant thousands of new trees each year simply by forgetting where they put their acorns.

Image credits: Irene Mei

10. Macaques in Japan use coins to buy vending machine snacks.

Image credits: o2worldnews.com

11. A BBC News program broadcast in 1957 ended claiming that spaghetti grew on trees on a farm in Switzerland. Many viewers believed the report and called the BBC asking how to grow their own trees. Their response: “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

Image credits: Robert Couse-Baker

12. Norway knighted a penguin.

Image credits: thatpanic.com

13. In China, killing a Panda is punishable by death.

Image credits: Cute Baby Animals

14. Rats laugh when tickled.

15. The voices of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse got married in real life.

Image credits: zimbio.com

16. Spiders can’t fly.

17. Sweden has a rabbit show jumping competition called Kaninhoppning.

Image credits: thowra

18. Gentoo penguins propose to their lifemates with a pebble.

Image credits: telegraph.co.uk

19. Dolphins have names for each other.

Image credits: Vitaliy Sokol

20. Kissing burns 2 calories a minute. Undressing burns 8.

Image credits: Jeremiah Kuehne

21. Puffins mate for life. They make their homes on cliff sides and even leave some separate room for their toilet.

Image credits: fourteenfoottiger

22. The Kingdom of Bhutan uses “Gross National Happiness” as an important national measurement.

Image credits: Adam Brill

23. When playing with female puppies, male puppies will often let them win, even if they have a physical advantage.

Image credits: Brian Whipple

24. Pigs’ orgasms last for 30 minutes.

Image credits: Source Media

25. A study measuring the effects of music found that cows produce more milk when listening to soothing music. They produce the most when listening to R.E.M’s “Everybody Hurts.”

Image credits: cbc.ca

26. There is a program that makes prison inmates responsible for training and raising seeing-eye dogs. Many reported that they felt like they were making amends for their past actions by working with the puppies.

Image credits: absencesix

27. Google, the periodic table, the structure of our DNA, and “Yesterday” by the Beatles are all ideas that were conceived in dreams.

Image credits: Sarolta Ban

28. There’s a superhero with a hearing aid called ‘Blue Ear’. He was created by Marvel Comics to encourage a little boy to wear his own!

Source: My Fox Boston

29. Good news is more likely to be shared through social media than bad news (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Image source: Jeff Van den Houte

30. Oops! We’re missing one. What other happy facts do you know?

30 Of The Happiest Facts Ever originally appeared on Bored Panda on October 17, 2013.

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Anyone who takes care of kids, especially their parents, knows just how hard it can sometimes be to get kids to eat right. When Malaysian mommy Samantha Lee came up with playful story-themed bento lunchboxes to get her kids to eat right, she had no idea they would also catapult her to internet fame.

Lee began making the creative story- and pop culture-inspired lunches in 2008, when pregnant with her second daughter. As her considerable talent developed, so did her following – she now has more than 310,000 followers on Instagram, where she posts her designs. Even more impressive is that she is totally self-taught – she has never taken culinary courses, relying instead on cooking shows and her own imagination.

She says that, while her kids love how cute and creative the food is, they have no problem eating it. Instead, they like to make up stories about their food as they feast.

Source: Eatzy Bitzy (via mymodernmet)

Stay-At-Home Mom Makes Creative Lunches For Her Kids, Becomes Internet Star originally appeared on Bored Panda on October 16, 2013.

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Fun Fact.  If you flipped Mount Everest over and placed it on top of the Mariana Trench, it’s peak would fall 7,000 feet short of the bottom. It would also be the single largest waste of human effort in history.

It’s interesting to think about what the people that discovered this cave must have thought – did they think that a cluster of stars had been trapped underground? Although we know that’s not the case, it does nothing to diminish the mystic wonder of the Waitomo Glowworm caves, a cave system in New Zealand known for its population of glowworms and other curious creatures.

The glowing lights and hanging beaded threads are the work of Arachnocampa luminosa, a species of glowworm that lives only in New Zealand. In their larval stage, these insects release long strands of silk with beads of mucus, which serve to entrap prey insects as they fly by. Because the wind could easily tangle or otherwise damage their snares, these glowworms only live in caves or deep rainforests sheltered from wind. Another adaptation is their bioluminescent glow – the hungrier they are, the brighter they shine. In a dark cave, this light can attract prey to their snare, much like a porch light or a flashlight can attract bugs in the woods.

Although scientists carefully monitor the cave to ensure that we never lose this natural treasure, it is open to guided tours. Next to the glowworm colonies, the cave also features beautiful limestone formations and other cave critters.

Source: Waitomo.com | Spellbound (via modernmet)

Glowworms Create Spectacular Starry Night Sky in a New Zealand Cave originally appeared on Bored Panda on October 4, 2013.

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These copper pipes, gears and steel railings are not from the interior of an ironclad battleship or WWI factory – they‘re part of the brilliant interior steampunk design of Truth Coffee‘s cafe in Cape Town.

The idea works in part because the coffee equipment used by Truth Coffee, with its various pipes and levers, already lends itself to a steampunk aesthetic. The cafe features authentic elements and accents like old bookcases, candlestick telephones, vintage typewriters, gas-masks and other gizmos and gadgets. Even the staff pictured wear popular steampunk elements like leather aprons, top-hats and goggles.

The interior design was dreamed up together with interior designer Haldane Martin, who was approached by Truth Coffee to design a cafe in keeping with their re-branding efforts. With cafes that look this much fun, I‘d say they‘re doing a good job!

Source: Truth Coffee | Haldane Martin (via colossal)

Awesome Steampunk Interior Design At Truth Cafe In South Africa originally appeared on Bored Panda on October 4, 2013.

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may the fourth be with you