No joke: Great guffaw might be good for the soul (Seattle P-I)

[icymist]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/171660_laughter03.html

Monday, May 3, 2004

No joke: Great guffaw might be good for the soul
A funny thing happened on the way to a big smile for World Laughter Day ...

By CLAUDIA ROWE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

If looking a bit wacky precludes one from holding public office (witness Howard Dean's recent flameout), Seattle City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck might well be out of a job. He spent part of yesterday afternoon guffawing, wriggling and chanting in celebration of World Laughter Day.

Steinbrueck was not committing willful acts of silliness on his own. About 50 other self-respecting adults -- many of them well into their 70s and 80s -- gathered at the Phinney Neighborhood Center to applaud the councilman's success in getting his eight council colleagues to sign a proclamation declaring yesterday World Laughter Day in Seattle. Not to be outdone, King County Executive Ron Sims has done the same for the wider region.

They join communities in Denmark, the Netherlands and India in formally recognizing peals of laughter as tools for personal health and world peace

(more)

[rocktivity]

1. I've already had my "great guffaw" of the day

Barge flips over in Texas as partygoers crane to spy nude beach

:headbang:
rocknation