MDBCs 01 Jul 2023

Not only does July 1 mark the middle of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, it is also International Joke Day. The unofficial holiday encourages participants to share their funniest and sidesplitting jokes with the world.

While the origins of this rib-tickling holiday are unknown, one can assume that its creators wanted people to spread cheer, laughter, and happiness by telling jokes to everyone they meet.

A joke is a written or spoken narrative that entertains, amuses, or generates laughter among readers or listeners.

Creating Ties

Humans have been telling jokes for a large part of their history. According to historians, the oldest recorded joke can be traced back to the ancient Sumerians in 1900 BC.

Anthropological studies have shown that laughter evolved as a way for humans to signal friendship and as a way to create and strengthen ties with a group.

How to Celebrate?

They say laughter is the best medicine, so make people around you laugh out loud by telling them jokes.
Organize a joke contest at work – the best joke wins a gag prize.
Read joke books today and share your favorite ones with family and friends.
What about playing a harmless practical joke on a friend or a colleague?

Did You Know...

...that it is believed on average children between the ages of 0 to 4 laugh 200-300 times a day, while adults only laugh about 4-20 times a day?

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Take heed, scientists: Not every scientific advancement is Nobel Prize worthy. Some must lay claim to an Ig Nobel Prize, awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine:

The Prize for Physiology went to the report "No Evidence of Contagious Yawning in the Red-Footed Tortoise."

The Prize for Medicine went to a study that demonstrates that people make better decisions about some kinds of things — but worse decisions about other kinds of things — when they have a strong urge to urinate.

The Prize for Biology went to the discovery that a particular kind of beetle mates with a particular kind of Australian beer bottle.

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The topic for my third-grade class was genetics. Smiling broadly, I pointed to my dimples and asked, "What trait do you think I passed on to my children?"

One student called out, "Wrinkles!"

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Needing to escape her hectic office, my friend fled to the mall, bought a candy bar, and then relaxed on a bench next to a businessman. Soon, she heard the sound of a crumpling wrapper and realized that he was eating her candy bar.

When he went to work on an ice cream cone, she leaned over and took a huge lick. "There!" she declared.

She then stormed off to her car, reached into her purse for her keys, and pulled out the candy bar she thought he'd eaten.

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Overheard at my garden-club meeting:

"I never knew what compost was until I met my husband."

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