Bonus: 9 Facts to Make You Smile

twelve months. And you know, you compare this to other generations only of Gen xers forty percent of Baby boomers, So you actually have millennials going to libraries more than others. Isn't this a little bit heartwarm up? I mean, I like this, And you know part of this is because millennials use libraries. Now for other reasons. You have them going to use the internet access or you have people going to take part in literacy programs for young children.

They have meeting spaces. There's also something I was reading about these technology petting zoos, and they provide opportunities for people to explore you know, three D printers and to try out some other gadgets there, but I still thought this was pretty cool. Yeah, it's pretty hopeful. You know, it feels like we're just bombarded with negative news sometimes,

you know. In fact, the other days eclipse, I thought it was not just fun because it was an incredible event, but you know, it also gave us a moment to focus on something we could all agree was pretty amazing, you know. Besides those anti eclipsers, their anti eclipsers, I don't know, but I'm sure there are. I'm just gonna assume that there are. But you know, and I'm not

suggesting that we shouldn't pay attention to the news. I mean, they're obviously very important things going on, and we should all be paying attention and finding ways to do our part in making our communities and our country and our world better places. But it's easy to go down these rabbit holes and reading about negative or tense news, and sometimes you just need a reason to smile. We thought it'd be fun to share a few facts that made

us smile, So let's get started. Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson, and as always I'm joined by my good friend Man guest Hot Ticketer and Tristan McNeil, the king of all producers in the land, is here. So we get to record an episode. But we've also got a special guest. You've probably heard us mention our brilliant researcher Gabelusier. Well he's here in studio with us today. What a special treat and welcome Gabe. Hey,

thanks guys, happy to be here. All right, Well, we're doing something a little different today as a bonus episode. And you know, in our brainstorm meetings were always throwing around ideas for episodes, but but we tend to also just throw out facts we've learned recently, and many of them bring a chuckle to the room or just a smile to the room. So I thought it'd be fun to challenge these guys with a little fact off and

give it a bit of a twist. So each of us had to bring three facts to the table, and the facts have to be in these three cat categories. You're ready. Category number one a fact about an animal, because obviously everybody loves animals. To a fact about something fun people do. This one's kind of broad. That's just because I found a fun fact and beside the neck of a category, and three a heartwarming fact. Okay, so you guys, ready, Mango, did you play by the rules

and come up with these? Okay, good, good, All right, well let's start with animal facts, and Gabe, since you are our special guest today, why don't you throw out a fun animal fact for us? Okay. So this is a fact that's stuck with me for a long time now, and it just never gets old. Dairy cows increase their milk production by three percent when listening to slower songs

like Everybody Hurts by R. A. M. So. In two thousand one, a pair of British researchers found that stress can inhibit the release of oxytocin, which is a hormone that's crucial to the milk making process. So their solution was to set the mood with a little soft music. In addition to R. E. M. The cows were also soothed by Simon and Garfunkeles Bridge over Troubled Water, I get It, I get it, that makes sense, and Moon River by Danny Williams, and also the symphonies of Beethoven

and Mozart. So pretty highbrow cows. I love that scene of just like Aroma candles and boom boxes like oh and to give a little update on this one, in the British Columbia Dairy Association affirmed the theory of music's positive effects on milk production by hosting a Music Makes More Milk contests. It was this national campaign that encouraged the public to compose and submit their own songs to help dairy cows unwind. And the best part was that

the cows themselves were the judges. So a jury made up of five Holstein cows listen to the five top songs during a milking session, and the winner was chosen based on how much milk it caused the cows to produce. Wow, when did you find out who the winter was? Yeah? It was this relaxing little ditty called a Moo down milk Lane. That a real song. I haven't heard of that. That's for be good for your first fact ever presented on Part Time Genius. That's all I feel like, overachiever,

he regretting this. Now, alright, Mago, whytn't you Why don't you take the second fact? Well, it's hard to follow that, but I actually also have a cow fact, and this is that um cows have best friends. And according to a study from Northampton University, when cows are placed in a pen with their bbfs, which is their best bovine friends, there are and anxiety went down and milk yields went up. I think you get a bonus point for using bbs something you just messed up. That's the best bovine friends.

That's pretty good. I'm a little disappointed in myself because I didn't come with a cow fact. I didn't know you guys were conspiring on this. I have a squirrel fact. Okay, alright. According to an old produced study, gray squirrels faulty memories are great for the earth. Every year, millions of trees grow thanks to squirrels for getting where they buried their nuts. See we can thank the stupid animals too. This is great. Alright, So good ones first, Alright, good job on those. Let's

see what our next category is. Alright, fun stuff people do, Mango, you want to go first on this one. Yeah. And and because I'm not great at following rules, I didn't just do a fun fact. I did a fun animal fact. Um. So there's a place in Rainier, Oregon where you can actually have a sleepover with slots. It's the Zoological Wildlife Conservation Center, and it offers guests the chance to stay overnight in the sloth habitat provide you can abide by the rules and and the rule number one is this

no talking policy. Apparently the slots don't want to be disturbed the whole time you're there. You can't talk that right non But but the slot sleepover begins at eight pm on Saturdays and last two about seven thirty am. It's a little pricey at three per person, but it does come with the sweet T shirt that says I slept with the Slot. Yeah, and if you really want the slots to yourself, you can actually book a private stay and pay for all the eight spots there. That's

pretty cool. I can't believe I've never heard of this. We've done so many like sloth passionate passionate sloth people over here. So that's pretty good, all right, Gabe, you want to try to top that one. Yeah. So there's this town in southern Japan that has an awesome preschool building that features an open air courtyard that collects rain water into this enormous, completely clean puddle for the kids

to splash around in. So rather than keeping the kids indoors when it's raining, the preschool encourages them to let their hair down and get their feet wet. Like that's great, awesome, I know my kids would love that. That's a good one, Gabe. Alright, well I'll go next. So let's go back to nineteen fourteen for this one. This is when all alcohol was banned aboard US naval ships. And so, how can you appease boatloads of sailors when booze is off the menu?

Will you give them ice cream? Of course? And and that's exactly what the Navy did. So they got a refrigerated concrete barge and they used it as this makeshift floating ice cream parlor. How crazy is this? So the barge was towed all around the Pacific fick distributing tons of ice cream too smaller shifts. You know, these are the ones that lack the means to make their own

ice cream. I don't know why they were built without that ability, but according to the Navy, the barge could produce ten gallons of ice cream every seven minutes and was capable of storing up to two thousand gallons of it. The program costs the Navy over a million dollars. But any sailor from the era will they tell you it was money well spent. That's so crazy. I feel like I know so many ice cream facts and somehow I don't know that one. It's a pretty good one. I

made it up. No, No, it's actually true. All right. Finally, the category heartwarming. Let's see what we can do. And I don't think I've gone first yet, so I'll take this one. So every year Choctaw Indians are invited to march in the St. Patrick's Day parades in Ireland because in eighteen forty seven, during the Irish famine, the Choctaw raised about a hundred and seventy dollars and they sent

it to Ireland to give the people relief. Now, at the time, the trail of tears loom large and the Choctaw's mind, and the money was of no small amount. I mean, this is about I think about twenty thousand dollars in today's currency. And today there's even a sculpture in court called Kindred Spirits and it commemorates the choctaws generosity. I love How warm are your hearts right now? Yeah? Alright, alright, gay why don't you take the next one? Okay, yeah,

so this is a quick one. But the mayors of Carthage and Rome signed an official peace treaty in five, only two thousand years after the end of the Punic Wars, so you know, better late than never. I'm glad they took care of that. I was worried war was going to break out again. Alright, Mago, you want to close this out with your last fact? Yeah? I love that you guys did such heartwarming facts, and I've got one too. So this is according to the Motley Fool, Taco Bell

has twice tried to enter the Mexican market. They made a push to run for the border Ino and ended up closing all their restaurants in two years. And then they tried again in two thousand seven when they added French fries to the menu and they called the food American Food, which also didn't work. My favorite Taco Bell fact is that the franchise started out selling hot dogs, meaning they could have been called hot Dog Bell. Is

that true? They really couldn't That's crazy? Wow? Well, Mango, I I love that fact, but I'm not sure if you notice the last category was supposed to be called a heartwarming Is that a heartwarming fact? I think I misheard you and I thought you said heartburning for heartburning fact? Okay, I get it. Well, it is a funny fact. But I do have to say, because Gabe is consistently making us all smarter and is our special guest today, I think I vote to give him the fact off trophy.

What do you think, Maga, I'd make that vote as well. Congratulations, speech, speech speech, so many people. I need to thank you so for all you out there. If there's a fact that makes you smile, please share it with us. You can reach us a part Time Genius at how stuff Works dot com or find us on Facebook or Twitter, or calls on the Fact hot Line at one eight four four pt Genius. We've had a lot of fun hearing from people on the Fact hot Line, so so

keep those calls coming. We'll be back on Win's Day on Friday with regular episodes. I hope you've enjoyed. Are sometimes stupid, but always fun facts and thanks for listening. Okay, so where's my trophy? Ye? Thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of How Stuff Works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do the important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme song

and does the mixy mixy sound thing. Jerry Roland does the exact producer thing. Gave Losier is our lead researcher, with support from the research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams and even jeffco gets the show to your ears. Good jobs. If you like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe, And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe you could leave a good review for us. Did you did you forget Jan Jason? Who differ depends