It seems like ever since that fateful inauguration day on January 20th, the world has been nothing but bad news. Heck, it was a lot of bad news before that, too. 2016 seemed like an actual piece of garbage for most people. Though it’s important to acknowledge the crap show that our world has been recently, it’s equally important to take some time to create balance. Here are some hilarious, happy, and otherwise uplifting facts to provide some much needed indulgence in the lighter side of life before you get back to the real world. Because hey, if kit-kat had anything right, it’s that we all deserve a break every once in a while.
1. My immune system could use a boost!
Studies show that physical touch, massages, hugs, and cuddles reduce stress and boost your immune system.
2. Awww that just makes them even more cute than they already were!
Cows have best friends and they tend to spend most of their time together.
3. I LOVE to hear this one. So happy!
Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor, who respectively voiced Mickey and Minnie Mouse, were married in real life.
4. The right-sized penis sleeve is key to space travel.
NASA had to relabel the penis sleeve for urinating in space suits from small, medium, and large to large, gigantic, and humungous because astronauts would only choose the large and they kept slipping off.
5. That’s a beautiful thing!
The voice of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Jim Cummings, calls childrens hospitals in his spare time to cheer up sick children.
6. Pillows make everything better.
The day of his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. got in a pillow fight in his hotel room.
7. This one just melts my heart!
Not only do penguins mate for life, but they also spend time finding a pebble to give their mate in order to propose.
8. Yeah, but who won???
During the Christmas Truce of 1914, German and British soldiers played a game of soccer in the no mans land between trenches.
9. I can think of better presents, but that’s cute.
Cats bring you dead animals because they think youre just a crappy cat that cant survive on its own. Cats bring you presents!
10. That would just be so satisfying.
Mister Rogers was given the honors of pouring the wax that made the 1,000,000,000th Crayola crayon.
11. I wish that could be every day.
In April 1930, the BBC reported that there was simply no news worth reporting that day, and played piano music instead.
12. Finding it hard to wrap my mind around this one…
The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. Were all made of star dust.
13. Those are all good things!
We now have less crime, a lower death rate and longer life expectancy than at any other time in human history.
14. I hope there’s no day where this isn’t true.
For someone, somewhere in the world, today is the most amazing day of their life.
15. Tulips are my favorite!
Every year the Netherlands sends 20,000 tulip bulbs to Canada just to thank them for their aid in the Second World War.
16. A forgetful accident, you might say.
Every year, millions of trees grow thanks to squirrels forgetting where they buried their nuts.
17. That’s a long time!
Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon, wrote his daughter initials there. Theyll last at least 50,000 years.
18. Then I need 7, 000 smiles stat!
Neurologically speaking, seeing somebody else smile actually makes you happier.
19. What a beautiful thing!
Aside from a sample in a lab, Smallpox is completely extinct. No one else will ever die from it again.
20. Wow… not even close.
There are more public libraries in the US (an estimated 119,729) than McDonalds restaurants in the world (35,000+).
21. And the world was forever changed…
Popsicles were invented by an 11-year-old who left a glass of soda with a stirring stick out on the front stoop overnight.
22. Better make it two for good measure!
Researchers say that 1 week of camping can actually reset our biological clock and synchronize our melatonin hormones with sunrise and sunset.
23. What a great man.
Another Mr. Rogers fact! Mr. Rogers personally replied to every piece of fan mail that he received. So sweet.
24. I always wondered how it all started.
Snoopy was inspired by cartoonist Charles M. Schulzs childhood pet, Spike.
25. What if you tape a knife to your forehead, though?
The handshake is thought to have originated as a gesture of peace indicating that the shakers hands held no weapons.
26. Oh my god that is just too much!
The gender neutral term for a niece or nephew is nibling.
27. More companies could learn from this move.
Volvo invented the life-saving three-point seatbelt, and instead of capitalizing on it, gave the patent away so that other car manufactures could use it to save lives.
28. Do the dogs know how to put the bottles in?
There are vending machines in Istanbul that dispense food and water for stray dogs. The price? An empty recyclable bottle.
29. Some jokes just get taken too far!
A couple invited the Queen of England to their wedding as a joke, and guess what happened. The Queen actually went! Talk about a woman of the people.
30. Oh! Here it comes now!!!
The chills you get when listening to music are a result of the brain releasing dopamine in anticipation of the peak moment of a song.
31. Maybe spread it around to me then?
Keanu Reeves gave $50 million of his $70 million earnings from The Matrix sequels to the special effects and makeup staff, saying Money is the last thing I think about. I could live on what I have already made for the next few centuries.
32. What an amazing thing to do…
Angelina Jolie purchased 60,000 hectares of Cambodian land and turned it into a wildlife reserve employing former poachers as rangers.
33. AWWWWWWWW what a good boy!
An Alabama bloodhound once joined a half marathon after her owner let her out to go pee. She ran the entire 13.1 miles and finished 7th.
34. I think I could do quite well at that…
“Fart Battles” were a popular art scroll created in Japan during the Edo period.
35. WHY HAS NOBODY EVER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS.
You can change your language on Facebook to “Pirate.”
In 1930, Ruth Wakefield mixed Nestle chocolate pieces into her cookie dough after running out of bakers chocolate whilst making chocolate cookies. Instead she actually created chocolate chip cookies, and later sold the idea to Nestle for a lifetime supply of chocolate.
37. You are mine and only mine. FOREVER!
When you see a cat rubbing up against a human, it is being affectionate but also marking its territory to make other cats aware.
38. Yeah maybe watch out for the moneymakers, huh?
Beyoncs bodyguard once broke her toe by standing on it accidentally whilst trying to protect her from a crowd of fans. Now that’s dedication!
39. Wow, what a brilliant idea! Everyone wins.
There is a long-term care facility in the Netherlands that allows college students to stay for free in exchange for 30 hours of volunteer per month. When students come home from a class, concert, or party, they share those experiences with their elderly neighbors, some of whom are over 90.
40. Never change, Sam.
The reason Snakes on a Plane kept its ridiculous title was because Samuel L Jackson thought it was funny.
41. And people still couldn’t tell it was her!?
In order for Princess Diana to experience what it is like to go out for a night out on the town as a “normal person”, Freddie Mercury once dressed Princess Diana up as man in aviators and leather, and took her out clubbing.
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