Queensryche

Laughter: The Best Medicine

A chuckle is good for your health in so many ways. By Psychology Today.com

Laughter, it's said, is the best medicine. And there's lots of evidence that laughter does lots of good things for us.

It reduces pain and allows us to tolerate discomfort.

It reduces blood sugar levels, increasing glucose tolerance in diabetics and nondiabetics alike.

It improves your job performance, especially if your work depends on creativity and solving complex problems. Its role in intimate relationships is vastly underestimated and it really is the glue of good marriages. It synchronizes the brains of speaker and listener so that they are emotionally attuned.

Laughter establishes -- or restores -- a positive emotional climate and a sense of connection between two people, In fact, some researchers believe that the major function of laughter is to bring people together. And all the health benefits of laughter may simply result from the social support that laughter stimulates.

Now comes hard new evidence that laughter helps your blood vessels function better. It acts on the inner lining of blood vessels, called the endothelium, causing vessels to relax and expand, increasing blood flow. In other words, it's good for your heart and brain, two organs that require the steady flow of oxygen carried in the blood.

Powered by: PsychologyToday.comAt this year's meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Michael Miller, M.D., of the University of Maryland reported that in a study of 20 healthy people, provoking laughter did as much good for their arteries as aerobic activity. He doesn't recommend that you laugh and not exercise. But he does advise that you try to laugh on a regular basis. The endothelium, he explains, regulates blood flow and adjusts the propensity of blood to coagulate and clot. In addition, it secretes assorted chemicals in response to wounds, infection or irritation. It also plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular disease.

"The endothelium is the first line in the development of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries," said Dr. Miller. "So given the results of our study, it is conceivable that laughing may be important to maintain a healthy endothelium. And reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease."

At the very least, he adds, "laughter offsets the impact of mental stress, which is harmful to the endothelium."

The researcher can't say for sure exactly how laughter delivers its heart benefit. It could come from the vigorous movement of the diaphragm muscles as you chuckle or guffaw. Alternatively, or additionally, laughter might trigger the release in the brain of such hormones as endorphins that have an effect on arteries.

It's also possible that laughter boosts levels of nitric oxide in artery walls. Nitric oxide is known to play a role in the dilation of the endothelium. "Perhaps mental stress leads to a breakdown in nitric oxide or inhibits a stimulus to produce nitric oxide that results in vasoconstriction."

slanshroom

Baking cookies with your cat!

1. Look in cookbook for cookie recipe.

2. Get cup of coffee.

3. Get cat off of cookbook.

4. Find that special recipe.

5. Get cat's nose out of coffee mug.

6. Go to fridge and get eggs.

7. Get dry ingredients from cupboard.

8. Break eggs in small bowl.

9. Sift dry ingredients in large bowl.

10. Answer the phone.

11. Cat ate eggs; get more from fridge.

12. Get cat out of flour bowl and dust cat off.

13. Get Band-Aids for scratches on hands.

14. Throw flour out and get more.

15. Preheat oven for cookies.

16. Looking at cat & wanting to bake cat now. Cat runs for cover into bathroom.

17. Flour the counter to roll out cookie dough.

18. Big crash in bathroom; run to see what happened.

19. Cat has TP all over floor; stuff spilled and knocked over on top of bathroom counter.

20. Yell at cat. Cat falls in toilet bowl.

21. Can sense cat is angry.

22. Take cat out of toilet to dry cat off.

23. Get bandages to cover more scratches on arms and legs.

24. Cleanup bathroom.

25. Hear a thump in kitchen ... Oh Golly ... now what?

26. Get cat off floured counter in kitchen.

27. Try to pick out cat hairs from flour.

28. Step on cat's tail and get bitten.

Satriella

Signs Your Family Has Gone Overboard With the Outdoor Christmas Lights

9> You have to put on SPF 50 sunblock to go outside, and you live in Minneapolis.

8> The flashing lights are causing seizures in the neighborhood kids.

7> The neighbors have stopped complaining about the light... and started complaining about the temperature.

6> Your house is now the *second* man-made structure visible from orbit.

5> The mayor of Las Vegas calls your house the tackiest building he's ever seen.

4> All the leftovers: Christmas light salad, Christmas light sandwiches, Christmas light casserole....

3> Your front yard has replaced Norway as "Land of the Midnight Sun."

2> Every time you plug in your Star of Bethlehem, the Fantastic Four attack your house.

and the Number 1 Sign Your Family Has Gone Overboard With the Outdoor Christmas Lights...

Random Thought

Robotech . . .

Anybody remember the TV cartoon Robotech?

I heard a full length movie is in the works - set after the last episode, after the third series (after the Invid).

Any other Robotech fans out there?

Just wondering.

KenCampbell

Apparently the series takes place right after the end of the 3rd series, where they set off looking for Hunter.

They encounter another alien group.

I think the series is called the Shadow Chronicles - or something like that.

They have a web site. I think it is http://www.robotech.com.

Enjoy.

KenCampbell

I haven't gotten any of the new comics - have a few of the old ones though.

I have looked at the new comics - story line looks good.

Really looking forward to more ROBOTECH.

YUMMY !!

Double-Mouthed Fish Pulled From Neb. Lake

LINCOLN, Neb. - This fish didn't have a chance. A rainbow trout pulled out of Holmes Lake last weekend had double the chance to get hooked: It had two mouths.

Clarence Olberding, 57, wasn't just telling a fisherman's fib when he called over another angler to look at the two-mouthed trout. It weighed in at about a pound.

"I reached down and grabbed it to take the hook out, and that's when I noticed that the hook was in the upper mouth and there was another jaw protruding out below," said Olberding.

He said in his 40 years of fishing, he's never seen anything like it.

Don Gabelhouse, head of the fisheries division of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, said a two-mouthed fish was new to him, too.

"It's probably a genetic deformity," he said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

The second mouth didn't appear to be functional, Olberding said. He has plans for the fish, which don't included mounting.

"I'm going to smoke it up and eat it," he said.

Nonprofit facts

http://www.guidestar.org/

Donating money to nonprofit organizations can be tricky. Let's say you want to give money to fight heart disease. If you give to nonprofit organization A, exactly how much goes to the cause and how much to administrative costs?

Signs Your Sex Ed Teacher Has Never Had Relations

9> "The dirty, sinful, nasty thing" isn't a term from the textbook.

8> His advice for avoiding teen pregnancy? "If you see a stork, run!"

7> She goes to Anne Rice conventions, her dream is to touch Fabio's pectorals, and she has more cats than names in her address book.

6> Refers to all sex organs as "the hoo-ha."

5> "But we're not birds or bees, so we don't do that... that... thing!"

4> Keeps trying to plug film projector into wrong end of extension cord.

3> She tends to say "theoretically" and "according to researchers" a lot in her lectures.

2> All the diagrams she uses seem to have been torn from the owner's manual of a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle.

and the Number 1 Sign Your Sex Ed Teacher Has Never Had Sex...

Euphemisms for Constipation

6> No light at either end of the tunnel

5> Stalled in committee

4> Got a full house, wanted a flush

3> Waste not, want to

2> Still using dial-up

and the Number 1 Euphemism for Constipation...

Homeland Security Christmas Cards

5> Two lists we seek this Christmas Day, one Naughty and one Nice. So hand them over now, Fat Boy -- we won't ask you twice.

4> May your holiday season be filled with all the joys and pleasures you find dear. Which, according to your web-surfing history, includes Honduran cigars, Coca Cola collectibles, naked Asian girls and vibrating butt-plugs.

3> In the meadow, we will build a snowman. We'll pretend his skin and beard are brown. We'll say, "You al Qaeda?" He'll say, "No, man!" But just in case, we'll haul his ass downtown.

2> We see you when you're sleeping. We know when you're awake. We like you in that nightie but we know those boobs are fake!

and the Number 1 Homeland Security Christmas Card...

MEDICAL INSURANCE EXPLAINED (Research done by the AARP Legal Department)

Q. What does HMO stand for?

A. This is actually a variation of the phrase, "HEY MOE." Its roots go back to a concept pioneered by Moe of the Three Stooges, who discovered that a patient could be made to forget the pain in his foot if he was poked hard enough in the eye.

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Q. I just joined an HMO. How difficult will it be to choose the doctor I want?

A. Just slightly more difficult than choosing your parents. Your insurer will provide you with a book listing all the doctors in the plan. The doctors basically fall into two categories--those who are no longer accepting new patients, and those who will see you but are no longer participating in the plan. But don't worry, the remaining doctor who is still in the plan and accepting new patients has an office just a half-day's drive away and a diploma from a third world country.

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Q. Do all diagnostic procedures require pre-certification?

A. No. Only those you need.

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Q. Can I get coverage for my preexisting conditions?

A. Certainly, as long as they don't require any treatment.

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Q What happens if I want to try alternative forms of medicine? A. You'll need to find alternative forms of payment.

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Q. My pharmacy plan only covers generic drugs, but I need the name brand. I tried the generic medication, but it gave me a stomach ache. What should I do?

A. Poke yourself in the eye.

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Q. What if I'm away from home and I get sick?

A. You really shouldn't do that.

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Q. I think I need to see a specialist, but my doctor insists he can handle my problem. Can a general practitioner really perform a heart transplant right in his/her office?

A. Hard to say, but considering that all your risking is the $20 co-payment, there's no harm in giving it a shot.

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Q. Will health care be different in the next century?

peaceandguitars

You must be from down under?

heh mate?

Tommy Hilfiger SOLD for $1.6 Billion

NEW YORK - Clothing company Tommy Hilfiger Corp. said Friday it agreed to be purchased by Apax Partners, a private investment company, for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, in cash.

Hilfiger said it expects the deal to close by Spring 2006 and is subject to shareholder approval.

The offer is a 5 percent premium to Hilfiger's Thursday closing stock price of $16 on the New York Stock Exchange. Hilfiger shares fell 3 cents to $15.97 in early trading after the news.

Apax Partners, which operates in the U.S., Europe, Israel and Asia, has invested in private and public companies, among them Phillips-Van Heusen, Tommy Bahama, Spyder Active Sports, Dollar Tree Stores and the Children's Place.

"This is an exciting new phase in our evolution as a global lifestyle company ... in addition to ensuring the strength of the Tommy Hilfiger brand at the higher end of the spectrum, we can continue to move ahead with the already successful global expansion," Tommy Hilfiger, the company's founder and principal designer, said in a statement Friday.

Laura Brightsen, spokeswoman for Apax, said there were no specifics available about its growth and expansion plans for Hilfiger.

Hilfiger plans to remain actively involved in the company. He entered an employment agreement in which he will continue as principal designer and chairman of the company's strategy and design board after the deal closes.

Fred Gehring, chief executive officer of Tommy Hilfiger Europe, and Ludo Onnink, chief financial officer of Tommy Hilfiger Europe, also agreed to enter new employment agreements when the buyout is completed.

J. P. Morgan Securities Inc. acted as exclusive financial adviser to Tommy Hilfiger Corp. Citigroup and Credit Suisse First Boston provided financing for support of the acquisition.

Tommy Hilfiger, through its subsidiaries, designs and markets men's, women's and children's clothing. The company's brands include Tommy Hilfiger and Karl Lagerfeld.

Through licensing agreements, Hilfiger offers a wide range of related apparel, accessories, footwear, fragrances, and home furnishings.

Going to head out for a few days.

WORDS OF WISDOM FOR THE NEW YEAR

There is more to life than increasing its speed. ~ Gandhi

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. ~ Charles Dickens

The distance is nothing; it's only the first step that is difficult. ~ Marquise du Deffand

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. ~ Emile Zola

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books. ~ John Lubbock

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. ~ Carl Sandburg

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it. ~ Harry S. Truman

And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. ~ The Beatles

He who laughs, lasts. ~ Mary Pettibone Poole

Kids...you gotta love em!!!

JACK (age 3) was watching his Mom breast-feeding his new baby sister. After a while he asked: "Mom why have you got two? Is one for hot and one for cold milk?"

MELANIE (age 5) asked her Granny how old she was. Granny replied she was so old she didn't remember any more. Melanie said, "If you don't remember you must look in the back of your panties. Mine say five to six."

STEVEN (age 3) hugged and kissed his Mom goodnight. "I love you so much, that when you die I'm going to bury you outside my bedroom window."

BRITTANY (age 4) had an earache and wanted a painkiller. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a childproof cap and she'd have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: "How does it know it's me?

SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. "Please don't give me this juice again," she said, "It makes my teeth cough."

D I (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: "How much do I cost?"

MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad: "Why is he whispering in her mouth?"

CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried. When his Mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, "I don't know what'll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in?"

JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt." Concerned, James asked: "What happened to the flea?"

TAMMY (age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy looked at her for awhile and then asked, "Why doesn't your skin fit your face?"

The Sermon I think this Mom will never forget.... this particular Sunday sermon..."Dear Lord," the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. "Without you, we are but dust."

Christmas Divorce

An elderly man in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are getting a divorce; forty-five years of misery is enough."

"Pop, what are you talking about?," the son screams!

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old man says. "We're sick and tired of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her."

And he hangs up.Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone.

"Like Heck they're getting a divorce, she shouts, "I'll take care of this!"

She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at the old man, "You are NOT getting divorced! Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" And she hangs up.

Famous Chicago Berghoff Restaurant Closing

CHICAGO - It's hard not to feel a sense of Chicago's history inside the 107-year-old Berghoff Restaurant, where hand-painted murals depict the 1893 World's Fair and the city's first post-Prohibition liquor license proudly hangs.

But in a few months The Berghoff — one of this food-loving city's oldest and most beloved restaurants — will become history itself, leaving its hordes of devoted patrons crying in their German lager.

Third-generation owner Herman Berghoff, 70, announced Wednesday that he and his wife, Jan, will close the restaurant in February. Their retirement will dim the lights on a Chicago institution that has quenched cravings for warm apple strudel and cold beer for generations of tourists and trade workers, politicians and lawyers.

"You just don't get places like this anymore," said 65-year-old Peter Schauer, a German immigrant and Berghoff regular for more than 40 years. He stood sipping a dark red beer Wednesday evening while tapping the restaurant's polished oak bar. "It really reminds you of the old country. It is solid."

It's the second blow to a city already saddened by news that its venerable Marshall Field's downtown department store will be renamed Macy's after being bought by the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc.

"I think I speak for a great many Chicagoans when I say I'm sorry to see it go," Mayor Richard Daley said.

Berghoff's grandfather, German immigrant Herman Joseph Berghoff, opened the restaurant in 1898, one door down from its current location in the heart of Chicago's Loop. He served free sandwiches to lure men to belly up for 5-cent steins of his Dortmunder-style beer.

His brew, made in Indiana with his brothers, was sold to fairgoers at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

During Prohibition, Berghoff served near beer and Bergo Soda Pop, but the slide in alcohol sales forced its expansion into a full-service restaurant.

The Berghoff Bar served beer and hand-carved corned beef sandwiches to an all-male clientele for decades — until 1969, when a group of women from the National Organization for Women stormed the place and demanded to be served drinks. They were.

"It was a bastion for men, and some of them thought, 'Hell this is our place.' But it had to change," Herman Berghoff told the Chicago Tribune in 1985.

A line thick with tourists stood under the restaurant's bright red neon sign Wednesday evening, waiting for a seat in the dining room decked with glistening Christmas decorations.

"I'm just stunned that it's closing," said John McGuire, 67, of St. Louis, who said he visited The Berghoff's bar every weekend while studying at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1950s and 60s. "I couldn't afford to eat here, but I'd save my money to buy beer because it was such a famous place."

The Berghoff will close for good Feb. 28, when the building will be leased to a catering company run by Herman and Jan Berghoff's daughter.

"We share the sadness that many feel about the closing of the restaurant," Herman Berghoff said in a statement. "It's been an honor to be part of the fabric of Chicago."

Its closing and the Marshall Field's name change leaves a small hole in the heart of the Loop, the section of downtown bordered by the elevated train tracks, said Ty Tabing, executive director of the Chicago Loop Alliance.

The Who to tour in 2006, Townshend says

TORONTO/NEW YORK (Billboard) - English rock veterans The Who will return to the stage next year following "a very, very cool" surprise announcement in June, according to guitarist Pete Townshend.

Under a Christmas Eve online diary post http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/ titled "I will go on tour...," the band's driving creative force said all of the shows may be viewable online.

"I have high hopes for the whole tour to be shared to a wide audience at home in a mixture of pay-per-view and free special Web casts," Townshend wrote. "Some of the proceeds will go to charity, of course."

No dates have been confirmed, but Townshend said he expected to unveil some new material on the road.

He had originally hoped to release the first Who studio album since 1982's "It's Hard" this year, but in March relayed news that it had fallen behind schedule due to the studio process and other projects. No new album and drummer Zak Starkey's commitment to touring with Oasis scotched thoughts of a tour in 2005.

"I have said many times... that I am reticent about committing to a tour without a completed new Who album under my belt," Townshend said. "As things stand I am still pushing to produce some more songs. So the announcement (of a 2006 tour) may seem premature. It is not."

While a traditional album is not expected, Townshend said new music will emerge, although it was unknown if it would be in a physical or digital format. "No, it is not an 'EP,"' he says. "It is a truly inspired idea."

"Who manager Bill Curbishley has come up with a great scheme," he said. "What his brilliant idea means is that if I don't have a full 30 tracks ready to go, we can settle on what I do have. So I can commit."

With his London office closed for the holiday season, Curbishley was unreachable for comment about the release of the new music or tour plans.

Townshend denied rumors that his girlfriend and sometime collaborator, Rachel Fuller, would open shows, instead suggesting that his brother Simon Townshend's band, Casbah Club, would be a better fit. "Who fans would love them."

Of his own new music, Townshend says:

The Sweet Smell of ... Happiness?

Climbing the ladder of success is easier with a smile, studies show

MONDAY, Dec. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Worried about how to succeed in life?

Don't worry, be happy.

That's the take-home message from a major new review of studies on the downstream benefits of personal happiness.

While everyone knows that successful careers and relationships make people happy, new research suggests this process works both ways.

"Perhaps happy people also have a lot of good things come to them because of their happiness, their sociability, their energy," said lead author Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside.

Her team's 53-page review of more than 225 epidemiological, longitudinal and experimental studies strongly suggests that happiness is literally its own reward: That it breeds success, just as success can breed happiness.

"It's clear that the relationship is bi-directional," Lyubomirsky said. "It's an upward spiral."

Reporting in the January issue of Psychological Bulletin, Lyubomirsky and her colleagues pored over data collected over the past two decades on more than 275,000 people.

She pointed out that throughout most of its history, psychology has tended to focus on what goes wrong with people emotionally -- only recently has it switched that focus to the exploration of "good" emotions like happiness, contentment and joy.

"It's a trend called 'positive psychology,' " she explained. "What makes 'the good life,' what makes life fulfilling?"

At first, most of this work on happiness focused on its origins, Lyubomirsky said. "So, if you had a study and you saw a correlation between rising income and happiness, it was immediately interpreted as 'OK, money makes people happy.' "

While not disputing that rather obvious fact, the California researcher wondered if success and achievement weren't, in their own way, encouraged by happiness.

Hundreds of studies appear to support that theory. Some examples from her team's review:

- In an infant study, babies who smiled and laughed more developed stronger bonds with their caregivers. - Numerous studies showed that happier people tended to do better on job interviews, secure better jobs, and then get better job-performance ratings while working. - Other research showed happier individuals had more satisfying marriages and were more likely to describe their partner as their "great love." - Happy people were also more likely to engage in new, pleasurable pursuits and "discover rewards in even ordinary, mundane events." - Happiness may even improve health: Experimental studies suggest good mood boosts immune function and reduces colds. - Other studies suggest happiness helps lengthen lifespan.