More Humour Please

There's a lot to be happy about, but in January it seems harder to remember that.

Here is a web article about how the brain processes humour, including this paragraph:

"Already some small studies hint that the brain activity from humor may have a medical benefit. For example, human tests have found some evidence that humorous videos and tapes can reduce feelings of pain, prevent negative stress reactions and boost the brain's biological battle against infection. Studies continuing this work are underway."

I've read that it's likely that hormones are activated. You can increase the amount of immune system boosting hormones in your body just by looking at a photograph of someone you love. Spontaneous laughter does the same thing.

So here are some things I hope make you laugh:

Dr. Sanity has listed the links to a number of song parodies she's written.

My favourite is the one about Juan Cole, 'I'm on the Faculty" to the tune of Monty Python's "I'm a lumberjack" - combining two interests of mine, my old university and my first exposure to 'British culture'. I still remember the shock of finding out there really WAS a Thames Ditton. I thought Monty Python had made it up. Can't stop singing "I think all night and I sleep all day".

A bit harsher perhaps with let's-call-it-colourful language, but really funny for all that, is Iowahawk. There are some great posts "written by Iowahawk Guest - Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi Senior VP, Al-Qaeda In Iraq", like this one,

"We've got a little joke here at the office": What's the last thing a Saudi says to a Syrian before they meet Allah?"
"What does this button do?"

Or this one, about a motivational meeting:

"Then, I swear to Allah, 58 drilldown slides of this crap. Lucky I was at the back of the room with Minesweeper on my laptop, otherwise I would have volunteered for my own martyrdom operation just to end the misery."

But for me the best is this, with the guest commentator live blogging the last election in Iraq:

"Okay, I admit the donkey martyr thing didn't go so hot."

"The whole thing was such a buzzkill I decided to go home for lunch. My sons were all off at madrassa and the only wife at home was the fat one, Fatima, who was watching the stupid non-son shorties who all need expensive hijjabs and farkin' dowries. Anyway I think I kind of freaked Fatima out, she said something about the other wives "doing errands."

Maybe I read it too fast, but Michael Yon's latest post makes him sound like a secret agent. His childhood memoir, 'Danger Close' has a lot of laughs in between the heartwrenching and exciting stuff, including a story about his grandmother's war against the moles in her front garden:
"Granny decreed that the moles were unwelcome and had to go. Dead or alive...catching them merely to relocate them would be like catching, then transplanting, cupboard mice. Such an exercise is neither socially demanded, nor worth the effort - unless you were the mole or the mouse." p.284-287

But it's PJ, economist, philosopher and cynic, who I've chosen to end with:

"The fighting in Afghanistan was so brief that CNN Headline News had to delete three bars from its "Target: Terror" score to keep the theme music from outlasting the hostilities."
p. 75 PJ O'Rourke, Peace Kills

Update:

Great cow jokes.

Wait, it's another update!

Judge Judy takes on Dan Rather, an oldie but goodie (12 months ago in the blogoshere IS a long time).