LAUGHTER FOR THE HEALTH OF IT!

Did you know that laughter can be used as a coping mechanism for stress and although it seems to only be used as an outlet for the emotion produced by humor or happiness that laughter also produces humor and happiness? Ergo---do we laugh because we are happy or are we happy because we laugh? FYI---both are true statements but most of us, if we exercise laughter at all, usually only exercise the former---we laugh only because we are happy. Laughter is a fascinating phenomenon that works just like medicine and although most drugs affect everyone differently, laughter is always the same---IT IS A ONE SIZE FITS ALL MEDICINE! Laughter is on the table as a prescription for promoting better physical and emotional health...even curing disease. When one laughs, it is like taking a drug and yet there is no such thing as an overdose or laughter toxicity! Maybe we can now say that “a [laugh] a day keeps the doctor away”, but then why stop at one---why not try 12 laughs?! Laughter exercises the entire human bodies causing us to relax free of pain---AND FOR NO MONEY! Now that is a deal isn’t it? BUSTING UP can BOOST US UP! In a recent health study, not laughing enough was one of three primary reasons people can’t cope in life (the other two are low self esteem and living in the past.) The fact that laughter is good for one's health should be quite evident and yet why don’t we laugh more AND more often? Studies show that laughter:

• roughly equals 15 minutes on an exercise bike but only if one laughs 100 or more times. Vigorous laughter increases the heart rate, deepens the breathing rate, and uses all of the muscles in the face, many in the stomach and sides (INCLUDING THOSE STUBBORN OBLIQUES!) and the diaphragm! Laughter provides an aerobic exercise effect, similar to jogging:

• Did you know that children laugh over 300 times a day and yet adults rarely laugh more than 15 times a day?
• aside from improving our moods, laughter can reduce stress, help fight infection, and reduce pain;
• the levels of two stress hormones, cortisol and epinephrine which suppress the body's immune system will actually drop after a dose of laughter thus boosting our immune systems;
• laughter causes positive changes in brain chemistry by releasing endorphins, and it brings more oxygen into the body with the deeper inhalations which all goes to make us feel better;
• laughter releases anger, fear, guilt, anxiety and tension;
• laughter encourages concentration on "right" attitudes rather than "wrong" attitudes, helps to promote positive attitudes and encourages better communication;

• higher levels of an antibody (salivary immunoglobulin A) that fights infectious organisms entering the respiratory tract were found in the saliva of people who watched humorous videos or experienced good moods;

• researchers found that after watching an hour-long video of slapstick comedy that the "natural killer cells," which seek out and destroy malignant cells, more actively attacked tumor cells in test tubes. And these effects lasted up to 12 hours;

• the 1998 movie Patch Adams told the real-life story of a nonconformist doctor convinced that fun, play, and clowns are important in improving patients' quality of life in a grim hospital atmosphere;

• laughter improves digestion, respiration, circulation and even lowers our blood pressure---Dr. Kataria of Mumbai states that …”studies have shown that people suffering from a variety of diseases have benefited in some way or the other and that there is a 10-20 mm drop in blood pressure after a 10 minute laughter session;”

• laughter encourages creativity;
• laughter relaxes the whole body.
(I adapted the following articles into this text.)
http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo0003/00030440.htm
http://www.highestpotentialself.com/index.php?/healthnews/laugher-is-medicine.php
http://home.hiwaay.net/~garson/laughter.htm

Laughter---is it healthy?

Laughter---How healthy is it?

Did you know that laughter can be used as a coping mechanism for stress and though it seems to be used as an outlet for the emotion produced by humor or happiness perhaps it actually produces the humor and happiness that we feel more than the other way around!  Ergo--do we laugh because we are happy OR are we happy because we laugh? It has been found that both of these statements are true, but we usually only exercise the former and why is that?  Laughter is a fascinating phenomenon that works just like a medicine BUT ONLY BETTER…although most drugs affect everyone differently, laughter is always the same---IT IS A ONE-SIZE FITS ALL! Laughter exercises the entire body causing us to feel relaxed and pain free AND IT IS FREE! The fact that laughter is good for one's health should be quite evident and yet adults laugh very little. Why is that?  So why not laugh and laugh often? When one laughs it is like taking a drug and yet there is no such thing as an overdose or laughter-toxicity!  Maybe we can now say…a laugh a day keeps the doctor away?(Adapted and made my own from http://home.hiwaay.net/~garson/laughter.htm)

OUR SLEEPING GIANT

http://www.wildfiretoday.com/news/2009/9/27/photos-of-yellowstones-arnica-fire.html
This photo was taken in September of this year! Don't you think that it is a little scary knowing that we have a sleeping SUPERVOLCANO that seems to be about to wake up?

R.S. Connett BIO

I currently live in Los Angeles, California USA. I was born in San Francisco, Ca. In the year 1951. I come from a middle class background with no artistic family influence. There are no artists, musicians or creative types of any kind in my family. One exception, My younger sister, like myself, is an artist. My father was an insurance broker. My mother, a housewife with no hobbies. In spite of being brought up in a family where there was never a single picture on the wall for decoration, I was always drawing.

I was encouraged to draw and recognized as having some ability to do so when I was very young, perhaps 5 or 6 years old. Although my family did not appreciate art, they did encourage my ability and helped me by gifting me pens and papers with which to draw.

I feel that, concerning my art, there have been 3 stages of importance in my life. First, as a child, being recognized to have some talent in drawing, I was encouraged and so became interested in making art. This made art an important thing throughout my childhood, young adult and adult life.

The second important stage occurred with an event in 1978. At that time I was working in my fathers insurance business and was terribly unhappy. I had a depressive meltdown because I was drinking too much and felt as though my life was pointless. I decided the answer was to make art again. I had not made much art from my teenaged years to that point, when I was 27. It was then, to preserve my sanity, that I began making art as a serious hobby. From that time forward I worked on my art in all my spare time. Of course, I was young, so "spare time" came after social interactions. As time went on, and social interaction became boring to me, the time I devoted to my artistic hobby grew.


http://www.vomitus.com/



(I am so sorry that I do not know where on the internet I got this wonderful comprehensive autobiography of this very talented artist but please know that I did not write it nor did I edit it in anyway!)

Website Hoaxes

here are some website hoaxes that i think are a hoot:

http://www.dhmo.org/

http://www.water4gas.com/

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/giant-water-slide-video.shtml

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/09/bluewater/
http://www.buydehydratedwater.com/shop/; 

The Real Story of MIFFY

“Miffy is a small female rabbit in a series of children's picture books written and illustrated by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. Miffy's original Dutch name was Nijntje, which stems from a toddler's pronunciation of the Dutch word 'nijntje' meaning  'little rabbit.' The first Miffy book was produced in 1955 and almost 30 others have followed. In total Bruna has sold over 85 million copies, and it even inspired a television series and clothes and toys which featured the character.”  (Wikipedia)

Even though many people think that Miffy is one of Hello Kitty's friends, she is not associated with Hello Kitty nor is she Japanese.  Though Miffy is drawn with the same simple style as Sanrio's Hello Kitty, she is in fact very much a Dutch creation.

"WHEN THE FROST IS ON THE PUNKIN" by James Whitcomb Riley

WHEN the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best, 5
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here— 10
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossoms on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock— 15
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries—kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill; 20
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover overhead!—
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps 25
Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yaller heaps;
And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With theyr mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and sausage too!...
I don't know how to tell it—but ef such a thing could be
As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me— 30
I'd want to 'commodate 'em—all the whole-indurin' flock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

                                                    

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!

It should be nothing new to anyone to know that BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING US!  Who is BIG BROTHER?  What if BIG BROTHER were UNCLE SAM? Everyone should know about the "listening in on us" that the US Gvt has been doing for years and then more recently that the US Gvt is now reading our e-mails but have you also heard that THEY might be using our our cell phones to "listen in on us"?  Did you know that your cell phone can be accessed as a listening device AND REMOTELY?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujosfSkHFrQ&feature=related