TODAY’S BLOG — Feeling lonely? An expert says an imaginary friend might help … Can money buy happiness? … Cats with smooshed faces can’t show emotion because of inbreeding …
Contests on The Morning Crave…
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7:20am Throwback Thursday (Amigos)
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8:20am Survey Says?! (Raising Canes Box Combo Meal AND Kearney Cinema Movie Pass)
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9:30am Club KQ (Kearney Cinema 8 Movie Pass)
Story Tyme on The Morning Crave…
Story 1: Feeling Lonely? An Expert Says an Imaginary Friend Might Help
Remember Wilson, the volleyball from “Cast Away”? Well, if the lockdowns last much longer, some of us might have to go that route. And it might NOT be a bad idea . . .
A professor in Canada who’s an expert on loneliness just wrote an article on why people who are isolated talk to themselves or create imaginary friends. And he says it might actually be a HEALTHY thing to do.
The term “tulpa” refers to a voice in your own head that talks and seems to have thoughts of its own. And it’s something people do INTENTIONALLY.
They work on it for months or years until it happens naturally. Which might sound nuts, but a recent study found most people who do it are perfectly sane.
7 in 10 people who do it say it’s to help with loneliness. And 78% claim it’s had a positive impact on their mental health.
Obviously we have telephones, Zoom, and our PETS to talk to. So you might not need to create your own talking volleyball. But more research is being done to see if creating imaginary friends is actually HEALTHY when you’re feeling isolated.
Story 2: Can Money Buy Happiness? A New Study Says Yes
We say “money can’t buy happiness.” Sure . . . because it would have been SO sad to hit that Powerball last night.
A new study at the University of Pennsylvania found that despite what people say, money CAN buy happiness. And there might not be an upper limit.
A similar study in 2010 found that more money does make us happier, but it plateaus at $75,000 a year. And more than that doesn’t affect how happy you are day-to-day.
But in the new study, researchers had 33,000 people use an app called “Track Your Happiness.” And they DIDN’T see any kind of plateau.
Basically, they found that yes, 20 bucks means more to someone who makes $25,000 a year than someone who makes $100,000. But if your income doubles, you see a boost in happiness regardless of how much you were making before.
In other words, someone who goes from $100,000 to $200,000 a year gets the same type of boost as someone who goes from 25 grand to 50 grand.
They think it’s mostly because more money equals more control. Quote, “When you have more money, you have more choices about how to live your life.”
But equating money with “success” isn’t a good idea. The study also found that people who think being RICH makes you “successful” are less happy overall.
Story 3: Cats with Smooshed Faces Can’t Show Emotion Because of Inbreeding
We live in an era of celebrity cats, because that’s JUST about where we are as a society.
And a lot of the cats that get famous, like Grumpy Cat, are Persians and Himalayans. They’ve got those smooshed faces that look angry all the time.
A new study figured out WHY those cats can’t really show any emotions. And it turns out it’s the result of generations of inbreeding.
Humans are actually drawn to pets who look a little angry or pained . . . it makes us want to help them and take care of them.
So we’ve selectively bred cats to have those features . . . and over time, they lost the ability to make other facial expressions.
Go here for more.
Go here for a picture.
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THIS is the most disappointing Valentine’s Day gift.
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The Moore Yooou Knoooow: Random Facts to Feed Your Brain!
- “The Flintstones” promoted Winston cigarettes through its first two seasons . . . with commercials that aired during the show of the characters smoking.
- The phrase “close, but no cigar” comes from carnivals in the early 1900s, when they used to give out cigars as prizes for winning games.
- The record for the most flowers sold in a single day was August 17, 1977 . . . the day after Elvis died.
- Boise State University famously has blue turf on their football field . . . and they actually trademarked the idea of having non-green artificial turf. So if anyone else in the world wants to do it, they need to get Boise State’s permission.
- If you’re in a room with 70 people, statistically there’s a 99.9% chance at least two of them will have the same birthday. And if you’re in a room with just 23 people, there’s a 50% chance two of them will have the same birthday.
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