Make 'Em Laugh*

Hahaha lol lulz hehehe bahahaha hardy har har --- Laughter.
This post is about laughter!

Laughing is one of my favorite things to do. I often worry that I do not laugh enough! But laughter is also incredibly bizarre. Our breathing shortens to the point where we're practically choking on air, weird sounds come out of our mouths, and our faces look dumb. Sometimes the laughter face can be mistaken for the pain or fear face. And this happens when we are thoroughly enjoying something. Watch strangers on the street during your people-watching sessions and just try to tell me that it's not weird! Weird but completely amazing and I'd rather be laughing than doing anything else. Here's some interesting facts about laughing (something we alllll take for granted!):

• Laughter is universal. All humans in all cultures laugh.

• We start laughing very early-- when we're about 4 months old.

• Laughter is unconscious. If you force it, you fake it. 

• Laughter is contagious. Perhaps that's the idea behind the cheesy laugh track??

• Laughter is a form of social communication. We rarely laugh when we're alone (I feel like I laugh a lot when I'm by myself...) and laugh 30 times more when in the company of others. What's more, the person doing the talking laughs twice as much as the person listening. Laughter is also thought to be the first form of communication between humans. "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." - Victor Borge

• Women laugh twice as much as men.

• We aren't the only ones that laugh! Other mammals laugh! Check out these rats!

• The study of laughter is called gelotology. (Weird word, huh? Comes from the Greek word for laughter gelos, geloto) If I were a comedian, I'd refer to myself as a gelotologist. And then I'd sound like an asshole! So it goes.

•  You've all heard the expression, "laughter is the best medicine," well, I'd like to add to that, "only in small doses! Or else you might die!" hahaha Yes, you read correctly, apparently you can DIE from laughter! Really intense laughter can stop the oxygen flow to your brain and cause you some major issues. Also, laughter-induced syncope (fainting) is a thing. Crazy! But before you start deleting your unwatched SNL episodes from your DVR (ha, jk! that show hasn't been funny in years), wikipedia only has like 6 cases on there. Death from laughter only happens to the really unfortunate! And men, it seems! (Sorry, men.) Ha, like one reported case is from the third century B.C. and involves a Greek philosopher dying after laughing from feeding his donkey wine and watching his donkey try to eat figs. Just don't follow in his foot steps. I mean, everything in moderation! Laughter is still the best!

*Creative title credit goes to Lauren, and of course, Singin' in the Rain. 

Visage

My mom bought me a copy of Psychologies magazine a long time ago (like a real long time ago-- October 2009) and I just got around to reading some of it last night. And I just have to say, I'm so disappointed by this magazine! It is just like Cosmopolitan or Glamour but with a few extra "studies" --which Cosmopolitan and Glamour already have, to support their crazy lifestyle and sex suggestions. There is no way this magazine deserves to sit next to Psychology Today and Mental Floss in the magazine stands at bookstores. No way,  no day. If you really want to read a worthwhile magazine, I'd reccommend Psychology Today. It's far from perfect but it has some really interesting stuff in there and it's not organized like "women's interest" magazines.

With that said, there was one really cool (and really short) article about face recognition in Psychologies. Psychologists have recently discovered that there are people who are super-recognizers; that is, they never forget a face--be it the milkman, a taxi driver, or your doctor's receptionist. (Finally, an article about me! Haha, just kidding, all articles are about me, and if not, I find ways. Same goes for craigslist missed connections posts...."I wasn't really walking on West Cliff but I was definitely walking on Saturday, how sweet of him to notice me!" haha) They discovered super-recognizers in their research and work with people who suffer from prosopagnosia, or face-blindness. It is thought that 10% of the population are affected with prosopagnosia, which is A LOT of people, especially considering I didn't know it was a thing until last night. Crazier still, people  are either born with prosopagnosia or it is caused by damage to the brain.

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Sweet Cheese Dreams

I've always been fond of the idea that eating cheese before bed causes nightmares. It just seems fitting that something so delicious, innocent, and gas-inducing could have such a powerful and terrifying effect on our subconscious. One of my good friends swears by this phenomenon, for she has the strangest nightmares after every over-indulgence of Olive Garden's Five Cheese Ziti al Forno.  It is, however, my sad duty to report that this is largely a myth...
Thankfully, as the saying goes, every cloud has a swiss lining (...too much?), and research shows that certain cheeses encourage certain dreams! Strange but true!

Hey! Grandpa Just Tweeted From The Grave!

Feast your eyes on a the new modern tomb, the E-Tomb, brought to us by Japanese designers.

The E-Tomb itself would store the recently deceased electronic data--like Facebook pages, blogs, pictures, videos--which can be revisited by friends and family. This miracle-maker is equipped with a blue tooth panel that is solar powered. A great way to keep in touch with the dearly departed?