18 September 2024, Thailand, Bang Phra: Two-month-old pygmy hippo Moo Deng with her keeper at Khao Kheow Open Zoo. The cute little hippo has become an internet sensation in Thailand and other Asian countries because of its funny faces. The number of visitors to the zoo has doubled since its birth in July.
Photo: Carola Frentzen/dpa (Photo by Carola Frentzen/picture alliance via Getty Images) It’s been a rough year. Actually, it’s been a rough decade. If you’re below a certain age, chances are it’s been a pretty rough life, with no sign that things are going to pick up any time soon.
Every time I open my phone and look at the news or social media, it’s like choosing to blast myself in the face with the most poisonous radiation known to man. Everything is sad and terrible all the time, and it always has been – with one exception. The one balm to our social ills since the days of Lolcats and dramatic chipmunk: cute animals going viral on the internet.
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