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Total number of posts: 23743
Happiness is overrated
Paulo Coelho | August 2009 issue What is happiness? This is a question that has not bothered me for a long time, precisely because I don’t know how to answer it. I am not the only one. Throughout the years, I have lived with all sorts of people: rich and poor, powerful and mediocre. In the eyes Read More...
Of laughter and land mines
Amy Domini | August 2009 issue Last year I visited a clinic for land mine victims in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, run by an extraordinary organization called Veterans International Cambodia. There you find extreme examples of hope and despair crowded into a small space. The clinic creates individually Read More...
Migrate toward the merriment
David Servan-Schreiber | August 2009 issue Jerry Seinfeld‘s father sold neon signs and often took his son from one local store to the next. His father loved funny stories, and he never failed to tell one to a potential client. Often as they got back into the truck, Seinfeld’s father Read More...
Try a little bubbly
Elbrich Fennema | August 2009 issue Photograph: Pieter de Swart "Laughter kills fear," writes Umberto Eco in his novel The Name of the Rose, which probably explains why laughing is considered healthy. When fear arises in the kitchen, it tends to be about the fear of failure. A simple Read More...
“Laughter can set people free”
Marco Visscher | August 2009 issue Ron Jenkins Photograph: Franziska Blattner Does laughter have a socio-political impact? "For ages, comedy has been used as a liberating tool for people, especially in oppressive regimes, to confront, ridicule and criticize the powerful." For example? "I Read More...
How people with brain injuries can benefit from laughter
Mary Desmond Pinkowish | August 2009 issue The benefits of humor are obvious at the Gateway Café, a project of the University of Rhode Island for adults with traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The Gateway has an open-door policy for people with head injuries, who are invited to spend time and connect Read More...
Ode's list of favorite funny movies
Editors | August 2009 issue Watching Marx Brothers movies helped Norman Cousins cope with a painful illness, a process he described in Anatomy of an Illness. Here are Ode’s recommendations if you’re feeling sick, tired, or just plain in need of a pick-me-up: Bridget Jones's Diary Mark Darcy to Read More...
Video: Rats laugh when you tickle them
Ode Editors | August 2009 Read More...
A field guide to the different forms of laughter
Editors | August 2009 issue Image: istockphoto.com/JoanVicent Belly laugh: Involuntary and intoxicating paroxysm that bypasses the laughter centers of the brain to go directly to the funny bone, in the vicinity of the solar plexus. Cackle: Especially pronounced in cartoon witches and villains, Read More...
Videos: The secret science of whoopee cushions
Ode Editors | August 2009 issue How does a whoopee cushion make sound? Does whoopee cushion size matter? Man or woman which is Read More...