Benefits of Humor

Here is one from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In my never ending Quixotic quest to finding what is funny, I stumbled on this tidbit that suggests that watching comedy can increase your creativity, but it still does not answer 'what is funny'.

Researchers found that watching a comedy film has several benefits. First, that it makes you feel better and we all know that. Second, that it makes you more creative. Third, that it aids in problem solving.

Are you bored and wondering what to do next (after finishing this).  Well, view a comedy film, or maybe this quickie of Mr. Bean making faces.

The movie makes you laugh and it makes you feel better. Now, don't you feel more creative?

Experiment results from, Isen, Daubman, and Nowicki found that people who watched a comedy film were more likely to solve a problem requiring a creative solution than people who watched a neutral film. 

Another experiment involved a comedy film and the Remote Associates Test. The mean number of items correct on this test was higher for people who watched a comedy film than for people who did not watch a comedy film. The hypothesis was that positive emotion would foster creativity.

The bottom line is that if you are working on a problem at home or work that requires a creative solution, it may be good to first view some comedy. I know that I always feel better after watching Laurel and Hardy, but am not sure if it makes me feel more creative.

Quotable

Some of today’s humor is like some foods - you have to acquire a taste for it.

Special Gift

Here is a special gift to you. Free paper. Just print it out and use as you desire.

To Stop a Crying Baby

Here is one interesting video. It is a one minute Japanese video showing a simple way to stop a crying baby by making a sound. The voice over is not in English, but the sound is obvious. Great for babies and grand babies that will not stop crying. It does not say how long the effect lasts, but sometimes a brief respite is all that is needed. Getting down on all fours and imitating a rhinoceros also stops babies from crying.

Quotable

Pessimist: Person who thinks all women are the same.

Optimist: Person who thinks all women are the same.

Quotable

A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on.  Carl Sandburg

What's in a Name, Sparky

The 1920s comic strip, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, strip gave us the nickname "Sparky," from the name of Barney's horse, Sparkplug.

Billy DeBeck wrote the strip about a community of backwoods hillbillies and moonshiners. In a 1923 strip Barney tells someone to, "Get that stupid look offa your pan. You gimme the heeby jeebys!" It meant, 'a feeling of discomfort'.

Other phrases coined by DeBeck: 'horsefeathers', 'hotsie-totsie', and 'googly-eyed' after Barney Google, who had huge, bulbous eyes.

Peanuts creator Charles Schulz was nicknamed Sparky - and that ain't no horsefeathers.

Quotable

People who live in the past generally are afraid to compete in the present. I've got my faults, but living in the past is not one of them. There's no future in it. Sparky Anderson, baseball player and coach.

Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits

Shaving does not cause hair to grow back thicker, or coarser, or darker. This belief is due to the fact that hair that has never been cut has a tapered end, whereas, after cutting, there is no taper. Thus, it appears thicker, and feels coarser due to the sharper, unworn edges.

Hair can also appear darker after it grows back because hair that has never been cut is often lighter due to sun exposure. I have noticed the hair on my head has begun to grow in, because it sure isn't growing out like it used to.

PS - Two bits is an old expression in the US for 25 cents. It dates from colonial days, when a common unit of currency was the Spanish dollar. As a way of making change, these dollars were often cut into eight pie-slice shaped pieces, called bits. Hence, two bits being a quarter dollar.

Uses for Lemons

The following are a few uses for lemons that you may not have thought of. 

Polish chrome -
Rub with a lemon rind, rinse, and dry with a paper towel.

Clean tarnished brass, bronze, copper, and stainless steel -
Make a paste of lemon juice and baking soda and apply to the tarnished area. Let soak for 5 to 10 minutes and wash in soapy water.

Get rid of stain on marble -
For stubborn stain on marble, cut a lemon in half. Pour some salt on top of the stain and gently rub with the cut lemon and quickly rinse so the acid in the lemon does not cause other damage.

Get rid of moths and smells -
Hang some dry lemon rinds in the closet to get rid of moths and to get rid of mothball smells, and wash drawers and closet with lemon juice in water.

Air freshener -
Put a mixture of lemon juice and water into a spray bottle for a natural and inexpensive air freshener. You can also put slices of lemon in a dish or a dish of lemon juice and baking soda mixture to help absorb bad odor and freshen a room. (A dish of cinnamon in water also makes your kitchen smell great.)

Get rid of ants, roaches and fleas -
Squirt some lemon juice into holes and cracks where the ants are coming in. Place small pieces of lemon rinds or peels around the house and wash your floor with the juice from about four lemons and half gallon of water.

All purpose cleaning solution
Add lemon juice, vinegar, and water in a spray bottle for a natural, all-purpose cleaning solution. I know, way more information than you ever wanted to know.

Sandwich Costs

Do you know how much it costs to make a sandwich? Here is a site that is a sandwich cost calculator. It has no redeeming features, just calculates the cost to make a sandwich. The lead up to it goes into great detail about the ingredients, but it offers no option of adding an extra 10 slices of bacon, or three or four extra slices of cheese.

Quotable

After all these years, it's still embarrassing for me to play on the American golf tour. Like the time I asked my caddy for a sand wedge and he came back ten minutes later with a ham on rye.  Chi Chi Rodriguez

How Lobbyists Got Their Name

A lobbyist is a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest.

One story states that the term originated at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, where it was used by Ulysses S. Grant to describe the political wheelers and dealers frequenting the hotel's lobby in order to access him, because he was often found there, enjoying a cigar and brandy.

Here is the lobby data base to find out what is being spent by lobbyists on Washington politicians. You can check by various criteria or country. We do not condone bribes in the US, but lobbyists, well that's a different story.

Check here.

Quotable

I don't take a dime of their [lobbyist] money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House. Barack Obama