Category: News

You don’t often hear about male cats hanging around much after kittens are born, but maybe it’s because they don’t live with the mama cat. It could also be because most indoor cats are fixed, so cat dads don’t get to flex their parental abilities. But there’s a cat family on TikTok that has been shattering the tomcat stereotype, because Santos, who recently welcomed kittens with his partner, Poppy, is showing people how it’s done.

In the first video, Poppy is in labor, and Santos, the black cat, is right by her side. He climbs into the box and offers support through gentle touches with his paws. His attentiveness to the laboring mother of his kittens is making humans take notes. Santos looks to not only rub the orange tabby cat’s back while she’s laboring but give her snuggles when the babies are born.

If they weren’t cats it would look like a supportive soon-to-be dad taking care of his laboring wife. The fact that they’re cats just ups the “aww” factor.

But the cuteness overload didn’t end with the first video. Santos and Poppy’s owner uploaded a couple of updates that not only continued to show that Santos is an attentive partner, but an involved dad as well. Are there “how to be a dad” classes for cats that we don’t know about? Judging by the comments, Santos may be needed to teach the class to some human dads out there.

“That kitty had more affection than ALL my exes put together,” one woman wrote.

“Human fathers should be taking tips,” another wrote, complete with a nail painting emoji.

While there are plenty of human dads out there that are extremely supportive partners, commenters were focused on how a cat could be more intuitive than those humans who are not.

@santospoppy

Best dad award goes to Santos ❤️🐈‍⬛ PS My boy has been neutered (thanks for the correction) not too long ago, she will also be fixed whenever shes ready #catsoftiktok #fyp #babydaddy #dadcat

In a different video, the papa cat is left to make sure the kittens go potty while mama cat takes a break. The entire series of videos is beyond cute and a must watch for a serotonin boost.

@santospoppy

🐈‍⬛ still the best dad (Dont worry, he is fixed now and its all under supervision) #catsoftiktok #babydaddy #kittensoftiktok #lovestory

And while the black cat makes an excellent dad, this will be his only chance at fatherhood. After many comments around getting the cats fixed, the person who runs the cat account reported that he is indeed fixed now and Poppy will also be spayed soon. For now, people can just enjoy the happy cat family content. Who knows, maybe Santos will pop the question and we’ll get a cat wedding to look forward to.

@santospoppy

🐈‍⬛ still the best dad (Dont worry, he is fixed now and its all under supervision) #catsoftiktok #babydaddy #kittensoftiktok #lovestory

Crooked teeth is a very, very common occurrence in our modern world. Nine out of ten people have at least some misalignment going on in their mouths. Over 4 million people wear braces in the United States alone. I don’t know about you, but I can still feel the utter sticker shock from my own teeth-straightening journey. (I call it a “journey” so it feels a little more whimsical and less devastating.)

And yet, this is not something our ancestors dealt with. Like…at all. How could it be that no one experienced this normal modern-day conundrum in a time when we had exponentially less technological advancement?

As it turns out, technology might be the culprit, and a video from Ted-Ed explains it all.

The prevailing theory in the scientific community is that millions of years ago, when humans were hunter-gatherers, their teeth had to work extra hard to grind down seeds, fruit, meat, etc., and make them digestible.

When humans began incorporating tools, food was broken down before it even entered the mouth. It only became more refined and easier to chew with the introduction of agriculture, followed by the innovations of the Industrial Revolution.

In a relatively short amount of time (12,000 years), teeth were basically relieved of most of their “pulverizing duties.” And while teeth were initially able to adapt to the gradual evolution of culinary changes, things simply changed too quickly to keep up. Over time, jaws have reduced in size much more quickly than our teeth have, leading to overcrowding and some…unique dental arrangements.

This also helps explain why wisdom teeth are such a pain. By the time these final molars come out, there is simply no room left in the mouth for them. This is why many people need them surgically removed in order to prevent discomfort or infection.

This theory has been tested on animals like spider monkeys and lyraxes, who were given naturally tough foods and artificially softened foods. Sure enough, the critters with the softer foods also developed narrower jaws, and more crooked teeth.

Bottom line: this issue has a lot more to do with lifestyle than anything genetic. Which is why different people in different parts of the world don’t deal with dental crowding at all, and even have room for wisdom teeth. Knowing this might not stop us from eating softer foods—it’s certainly not gonna make me give up warm gooey cookies any time soon, perfect smile and zero cavities be damned—but it’s certainly something to chew on.

You can watch the full video, based on a lesson by dental anthropologist G. Richard Scott, below:

During a recent appearance on Julia Fox’s podcast, Forbidden Fruits, Grimes opened up about her thoughts regarding cancel culture. Between sharing two children with Elon Musk and a number of other interesting moments, she’s been no stranger to it — as she points out.

“I think it’s fairly obvious… I’m very easy to cancel and canceled very often,” Grimes said. “I’ve always been exceptionally canceled. People call me a ‘techno-fascist’… I agree a lot of things have been mishandled and we’re in this giant hiccup into a different part of civilization that is extremely unprecedented.”

Still, Grimes also took a bit of accountability, noting that she’s said some “dumb stuff.”

“You’ve said some smart stuff too,” Fox told her in response, according to Billboard.

“I think we need a better discourse… the way I wish people would approach me in better faith — I approach everyone in good faith — if people are being hateful on the internet those people are mad because they want a better world,” Grimes added.

Throughout the episode, Grimes also discussed her recent remarks regarding AI, which has been a controversial subject in music currently. While AI songs modeled after Drake and The Weeknd were pulled from streaming, Grimes told her social media followers that she was open to people making AI music of her. She also launched a platform to do it.

“I think the engineers who create the tools that we use are often very under appreciated – all music right now is pretty much a dialogue between the engineers and the artists. We have just been given a plethora of tools that are very unprecedented,” she shared.

Hey ho, happy humans!

Whether you’re feeling stressed over end-of-the-school-year chaos, depressed over the challenges our world faces or refreshed by the beautiful spring blossoms blooming everywhere, you can surely use some extra doses of joy.

In this week’s list, we have some delightful interactions between parents and young adult children, a hilarious take on millennials getting older, some helpful and entertaining animals, a throwback to one of the most iconic (and earwormy) jingles of all time, a photo that has been blowing people’s minds and of course, some utterly adorable toddlers.

We hope these little nuggets brighten your day! Enjoy!

1. Watch this first-generation college student find out he got accepted to Harvard

See on Instagram

So much pride and joy. These videos never get old.

2. The Holdernesses welcome millennials to the Gen X club, and it’s too accurate

“The younger generation calling all your clothes ‘vintage.'” HA. It happens to all of us eventually. Read the full story here.

3. If you thought a chinchilla couldn’t be a ninja, you thought wrong

@shevet.bafanifi

#duet with @The Chinfluencers

Sound up, and wait for the end. Such impeccable timing.

4. Daughter pranks her parents with a fake scholarship video and her mom can’t keep it together

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This family is hilarious.

5. This photo is blowing people’s minds because it’s not photoshopped or A.I.-generated or anything

It’s a genuine photo. No editing tricks. the brown on the top right is a wall and below is its reflection. Still hard to picture, I know. Find the full explanation with other visual proof that there’s nothing altered in the photo here.

6. Check out these stories of animals sensing when someone needed medical care

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Swipe through to see all of them. Our furry friends can be much more than just cuddly companions.

Speaking of which:

7. Cat thinks they’re fighting, doggo makes it clear he thinks they’re playing

u201cNinja dog.. ud83dude02u201d

— Buitengebieden (@Buitengebieden)
1683268724

Those are some impressive spins there, buddy. Cat doesn’t even know what to do with that.

8. Footage of the Chili’s “Baby Back Ribs” song being recorded is pure nostalgic joy

Everyone who lived through the 90s had this song stuck in their head on repeat for years. Learn more about the famous vocalists behind the iconic jingle here.

9. Kiddo figures out how to give a thumb’s up and it’s 10 seconds of adorableness

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You can see those gears turning. Tiny humans are the best. Speaking of which…

10. Wee one has his moves to ‘Uptown Funk’ totally down and it’s so smooooooth

@kelley_renee2

He’s got it pretty much nailed now 🤣 @brunomars

Can’t even talk, but he can sing along with Bruno. And the timing of those foot stomps. May we all dance with such abandon.

Hope that brought some smiles to your faces! Sign up for our free newsletter, The Upworthiest, here to get more posts like this one delivered to your inbox.

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran was found not liable on April 4 in a lawsuit where he was accused of stealing elements of the Marvin Gaye classic “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 hit, “Thinking Out Loud.”

The case called attention to the fact that there are motifs and musical structures common in pop music that no one owns, and all are free to use. When it comes to chord progressions, the 12-bar blues and basic I, IV, V, I progressions you hear in country and folk have been used and reused since people first picked up the guitar.

In the wrong hands, the progressions can result in music that is boring and formulaic, but in the right hands, they can be a springboard for fresh ideas.

In 2009 Australian comedy group Axis Of Awesome did a funny sketch showing how one four-chord progression, famous for being the basis of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” has been used countless times by musicians to great effect.

They played a medley of 38 major hits using the same progression to prove their point. For musicians, it’s known as the I–V–vi–IV progression, and when played in the key of C it would be C, G, Am, F.

Warning: Video contains strong language.

Here’s a list of all of the songs in the medley.

Journey – “Don’t Stop Believing”

James Blunt – “You’re Beautiful”

Alphaville – “Forever Young”

Jason Mraz – “I’m Yours”

Mika – “Happy Ending”

Alex Lloyd – “Amazing”

The Calling – “Wherever You Will Go”

Elton John – “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”

Maroon 5 – “She Will Be Loved”

The Last Goodnight – “Pictures Of You”

U2 – “With Or Without You”

Crowded House – “Fall At Your Feet”

Kasey Chambers – “Not Pretty Enough”

The Beatles – “Let It Be”

Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Under the Bridge”

Daryl Braithwaite – “The Horses”

Bob Marley – “No Woman No Cry”

Marcy Playground – “Sex and Candy”

Men at Work – “Land Down Under”

Banjo Patterson – “Waltzing Matilda”

A-ha – “Take On Me”

Green Day – “When I Come Around”

Eagle Eye Cherry – “Save Tonight”

Toto – “Africa”

Beyonce – “If I Were A Boy”

The Offspring – “Self Esteem”

The Offspring – “You’re Gonna Go Far Kid”

Pink – “You and Your Hand”

Lady Gaga – “Poker Face”

Aqua – “Barbie Girl”

The Fray – “You Found Me”

30h!3 – “Don’t Trust Me”

MGMT – “Kids”

Tim Minchin – “Canvas Bags”

Natalie Imbruglia – “Torn”

Five For Fighting – “Superman”

Axis Of Awesome – “Birdplane”

Missy Higgins – “Scar”

Cats, like adorable, four-legged therapists and nurses, have an uncanny ability to pick up on subtle changes in our emotions and health. Research suggests that their tremendous sense of smell allows them to sense illness in humans, often before we know we’re sick.

The feline olfactory system is 14 times more powerful than a human’s, so cats can detect subtle differences in someone’s scent that may indicate if there is something wrong with their health.

An incredible example of this sense put into action comes from Liverpool, England, where a cat named Willow saved her owner’s life by noticing when she wasn’t well. Amanda Jameson, a 51-year-old diabetic, went to bed one night with dangerously low blood sugar. Somehow, Willow noticed something was wrong with her, so she went to get help.

Willow found her partner, Ray Sherwood, 57, asleep watching television. Willow nibbled on Sherwood’s legs to get his attention to wake him up. “I had fallen asleep in front of the TV and then around 4 am, I was woken by Willow biting at my legs and jumping at me,” Sherwood told The Independent.

“It was very out of character for her and made me get up to see what all the fuss was about,” he continued. “She was running between me and the stairs, looking back at me. I followed her up the stairs and she kept looking back at me to make sure I was coming.”

When he got to the bedroom, he found Jameson slumped over. She was unresponsive, so he called an ambulance. When she arrived at the hospital, doctors said she was close to slipping into a diabetic coma. But thanks to Willow’s bravery, she was saved just before her condition took a turn for the worse.

It’s impossible to know how long someone can last in a diabetic coma, but if untreated, it can eventually lead to brain damage or death. Jameson believes that since her scare, Willow appears to be worried about her health.

u201cWillow the cat who saved diabetic owneru2019s life among finalists in National Cat Awardsnhttps://t.co/wEHsPNO0KZu201d

— The Independent (@The Independent)
1682056560

“Since I came home from the hospital, she has become very protective of me. I’ve noticed how she puts her nose to my mouth a lot. I think she’s checking I’m breathing,” she told The Independent.

Willow’s quick thinking has earned her the honor of being one of the 12 finalists for The National Cat Awards sponsored by Cats Protection, the UK’s biggest cat charity. Willow is nominated in the Moggy Marvels category for those who’ve displayed their “moggy brilliance.”

She’s up against two other cats in her category. Beau, who’s taken care of an owner with blood cancer, and Dali, who went missing for a month and was found marooned on a tiny patch of rocks in the Bradford Beck River.

In the UK, “moggy” refers to a typical domestic house cat that’s often mixed-breed. Similar to how Americans refer to a run-of-the-mill, mixed-breed dog as a mutt.

Whether or not Willow wins the award, she’ll be loved by her owner all the same. “I love her more than anything,” Jameson told CBS News. “I can’t thank her enough, and she is the world to me.”

Sometimes we’re not in the mood to be touched, and the same goes for our pets. While cats are notorious for snubbing humans who dare to touch them without explicit affirmative consent for exactly 3.5 pets, dogs are different. Dogs like to get head scratches, butt pats and for some reason slapped on the ribs somewhat aggressively. I don’t know why dog owners do the last one but I’ve seen it enough to think it’s a thing that dogs enjoy.

The point is dogs generally want you to pet them as often as humanly possible and until it feels like your arms are going to fall off. They try to climb up on your lap because being as close to your cornea as their snouts will allow is comforting to them. But apparently, dogs also get into moods where they don’t want to be touched by their humans.

Weird, right? A chocolate lab on TikTok is simply not in the mood for pets and his reaction to his owner attempting to pet him has commenters in stitches.

The dog, Colby, looks as if he’s trying to relax when you see his mom’s hand reach out to pet him. He doesn’t break eye contact with his human, Morgyn Seigfried, as he gently pushes her hand away with his back foot. She tries several times, and each time Colby has the same response.

“Let’s not make this more embarrassing than it has to be,” one commenter wrote.

“He said pet me…WITH YOUR EYES,” another person said.

While some were imagining what the dog was saying internally, others just found it hilarious, especially because he uses his hind leg to reject the affection.

“Such a boss move to use the back leg and not the front paw,” someone wrote, complete with a crying laughing emoji.

“The fact that he used his rear leg makes the exchange even better,” another commenter said.

Colby is clearly over Seigfried’s need to touch him, as you can see for yourself below:

@morgynseigfried

looking me dead in the eye too 🥲 #dogsoftiktok #dogs #dogvideos #labsoftiktok #chocolatelab #labrador #dogsoftiktokviral #doglover #doglovers

OVO rapper Smiley continues to show off his immaculate beat selection on his new song “Eternals.” In the video for the new single, the Canadian rapper cruises in an ice cream truck full of twerking women while boasting his Drake co-sign and pushing his laconic flow to its limits. In a press release for the new video, he commented on his upgraded delivery, saying, “It’s that new Smiley, I took a way different approach with this record than I usually do.” While he points out that “most people think I only like the slow flow,” he says the track shows off his “ability to go on upper tempo beats. ”

Smiley’s been a bit of a fixture at UPROXX Studios over the past few months, dropping by to give a performance of his song “Grammy” on UPROXX Sessions and sharing his sneaker investment advice, inspired by the title of his mixtape, Buy Or Bye. While he says “bye” to Nike’s Ben & Jerry SB Dunks, Jordan’s Travis Scott AJ1s get a “buy” as do the Dior AJ1s. But the Air Mags, known for appearing in Back To The Future 2, were a “bye.”

You can watch Smiley’s “Eternals” video above.

Smiley is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

An alleged miscommunication between the greatest footballer to ever live and his current team led to a suspension, a likely end to the two sides’ relationship, and a video posted to social media with an apology. Earlier this week, Paris Saint-Germain handed down a two-week suspension without pay to Lionel Messi after the World Cup winner took an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia that led to him missing training.

Messi posted a clip to his Instagram on Friday addressing the situation, claiming that “I had organised this trip to [Saudi] Arabia that I had previously canceled and I couldn’t [this time around]. I repeat, I apologise for what I did and I’m waiting for what the club decides,” according to ESPN.

As for how this miscommunication could have possibly happened, ESPN reports that PSG’s manager, Christophe Galtier, told the team that they’d get two days off from training if they beat Lorient, but instead, PSG went on to lose, 3-1. Despite this, Messi, a tourism ambassador for Saudi Arabia, went on a trip that was promoted on social media by the country’s Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Al Khateeb. He returned to Paris on Tuesday.

All of this comes amid a year of rumors for what Messi will do next, with reports in the aftermath of the suspension indicating that the Argentine and the club that he’s called home for the last two seasons will not look to renew his deal when it expires at the end of this season. It’s led to the latest round of questions about where Messi will bring his once-in-a-generation star power next year, as it is believed that a return to Barcelona could be in the cards if the club sorts out its finances. There is also speculation that Messi could come play in the United States, which he has indicated he would like to do in the past, or head to Saudi Arabia on a deal that would reportedly be considerably more lucrative than the one Cristiano Ronaldo signed when he joined the Saudi Pro League earlier this season. Reports indicate that Messi has a contract offer to join the Saudi club Al-Hilal for approximately $400 million a year.

PSG sit atop Ligue 1 this year, but were eliminated by Bayern Munich in the Round of 16 in the Champions League. Beyond Messi’s future with the club being in major doubt, there are questions as to whether Neymar will continue in Paris, as the club’s supporters gathered outside of his home this week to demand he leaves.

Presumably, at some point during the early stages of developing a Formula 1 movie, director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) and producer Jerry Bruckheimer must have said something along the lines of “We need to get someone in this cockpit.” But maybe the casting director heard “We need to get someone, maybe Brad Pitt,” and they just went with it, because Brad Pitt will indeed be getting a cockpit for the upcoming movie. Maybe Mr. Worldwide Pittbull is on standby.

According to the film’s official logline, Pitt plays “a driver who comes out of retirement to compete alongside a rookie driver against the titans of the sport.” Not only will Pitt be starring in the currently untitled movie, but he will also be “racing” at Silverstone, the track of the British Grand Prix. In what can only be described as taking a page from the Tom Cruise School Of Acting, it seems like Pitt will really have to learn to drive like the pros on a professional track.

Variety clarified that the actual car Pitt will drive will be a “modified version of a junior F2 or F3 car” and he will be driving in between the official races, so he won’t really be going against the professionals, but it will look like it. That’s what normally happens in movies, anyway. The film, which will be produced by Apple Studios, will also star recent Oscar-nominee Kerry Condon.

If you get car sick, maybe sit this one out, since the movie will allegedly utilize “the smallest moveable 6k camera ever designed to take the viewer into the cockpit,” meaning that we are yet one step closer to a live-action remake of A Bugs Life that everyone has been asking for.

(Via Variety)