The laughter gurus
A GROUP of people have been gathering regularly in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, to march around, wave their arms, clap – and laugh out long and hard.
They're known as the Laughter Yoga group. The combination of unconditional laughter and yogic breathing is said to stretch muscles and trigger endorphins - the chemical in the brain that is known for its feel-good effect.
"Laughter Yoga makes people more friendly. It creates a friendly society where people have the habit of being friendly, to smile to each other," says Le Anh Son, who introduced it to Vietnam from India. "It has the potential to change society."
"Laughter makes us become younger, relaxed and comfortable. When I practice this, I forget all my sadness. It clears my mind so I can come home to do my chores as usual," says retired artist Vu Hong Diem.
At last I get it. Julius Malema and his cronies are actually laughter gurus. When they talk of nationalising the mines, closing the streets and taking the cheese from people's fridges, they're actually stretching our laughter muscles, triggering endorphins and making us feel good.
Ha, ha, ha! Hee, hee! Hoo, hoo, hoo! My mind is cleared. Boy, do I feel good!
Names
THE CHILDREN of Britain's shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, the exotically-named Ed Balls, have taken the surname of his wife, Yvette Cooper, to save themselves embarrassment.
Yvette uses her pre-marriage surname – she would probably be insulted if it were described as her "maiden" name – to identify herself in her political career (she's shadow Home Secretary) and it probably has as much to do with feminism as coyness about the alternative. All this emerges in a book just published on the Gordon Brown years in Downing Street.
Yes, a name can be a burden. I once knew a fellow called De Kock who was plagued by schoolboy humour over the telephone.
"Is that De Kock?"
"De Kock speaking."
"Can I speak to De Hen?"
Then in Maritzburg in days of yore there was a Major Hunt-Grubbe listed in the directory. He too was the regular recipient of facetious calls advising him that it's the early bird that catches the worm.
Worst though was a tea party where the good major was being introduced to an elderly lady.
"Mildred, I want you to meet Major Hunt-Grubbe."
She cupped a hand to her ear. "Could you repeat that? I'm a little hard of hearing."
"Major Hunt-Grubbe."
"Oh!" She broke into peals of laughter. "For an awful moment I thought you said Hunt-Grubbe."
Dice you!
FORMER Nasa scientists and engineers who are out of work following the winding up of the space shuttle programme have turned their expertise to building tricycles.
But these are not toy store tricycles. They are mean beasts, the Harley Davidsons of the tricycle world. They've produced a prototype, the Treycycle, which is powered by a Chrysler 3.5-litre engine, packs 260 horsepower and can go from 0-60mph in 3.6 seconds.
The part-bike, part-car is billed as the first race-engineered but street-legal three-wheeler. There's already a waiting list of 150 for the Treycycle, and the laid-off engineers plan to build a new one every three weeks in their first year of production, which starts next month.
Hey, just the thing for Umgeni Road late at night. Dice you, ek se!
Bin makin' music
TALKING and singing rubbish bins are the latest in the campaign against litter. The bins respond with a recorded "Thank you!" or a burst of music and song when anything is dropped in them.
In Sweden talking bins attract three times as much rubbish as the silent ones. Now they are to be tried in London and Liverpool. At Covent Garden the bin music will be opera. In Liverpool it will be the Beatles.
The "bin party" must surely become a social phenomenon. The bin becomes a kind of jukebox. You gather round with a few beers and feed the jukebox by throwing in the empty cans.
Rubbish Bin Boogie ... hey, here's a new genre!
Tailpiece
Patient: My tongue tingles when I touch it to a hard-boiled egg wrapped in baking foil taken from the bottom of the toaster. What's wrong with me?
Doctor: "You've got too much spare time."
Last word
A sense of humour is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.
No comments:
Post a Comment