Bonus: 9 Facts to Make You Smile

We’re tired of the news cycle. You might be too… Join us for a little bonus Fact-Off, featuring our head research Gabe Luzier.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Guess what mango? What's that will? So Gabe shared this
fact the other day with me and it it made
me happy, so I wanted to share this. Did you
know that there are more public libraries in the US
than there are Starbucks? This seemed baffling to me, but
there's seventeen thousand, five hundred and sixty six when you
include their branches. There was another study done by Pew
Research Center that found that fifty of millennials say they

(00:23):
used a public library or a bookmobile in the previous
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

(00:44):
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,

(01:05):
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

(01:26):
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

(01:48):
us smile, So let's get started. Hey there, podcast listeners,

(02:13):
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,

(02:33):
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

(02:55):
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

(03:17):
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

(03:40):
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

(04:02):
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

(04:23):
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

(04:44):
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,

(05:05):
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,

(05:26):
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.

(05:46):
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,

(06:07):
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

(06:28):
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

(06:48):
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

(07:08):
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,

(07:32):
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

(07:55):
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.

(08:16):
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

(08:36):
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.

(08:56):
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,

(09:17):
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.

(09:39):
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,

(10:02):
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

(10:24):
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

(10:45):
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,

(11:07):
so where's my trophy? Ye? Thanks again for listening. Part
Time Genius is a production of How Stuff Works and

(11:27):
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,

(11:50):
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