Its a simple question to ask, “Whats so funny?” but if you sit down and think about it, it’s not so easy to answer. In some respects it’s an eternal question with no one correct answer. Ask a comedian who is successful about what is it that makes the audience laugh? Why are you so funny? The reply you will probably get, is a litany of stories about the years that they spent ‘doing the circuit’, rooms full of drunks and the nights they died on stage and never got a laugh. They can never quite put their finger on the turning point in their careers and don’t dwell on the reasons. “If it aint broke don’t fix it” and certainly do not try to analyze it for fear that it, like magic, may disappear overnight.

Simply the fact that different things make us laugh and a particular type of humour may leave someone in hysterics and another person bemused, looking for what was so funny, is testament to the innate personal nature of comedy. A study of what make us laugh concluded that their were two types of humour. The type where we laugh with someone or some situation, and another where we are laughing at someone or something. The latter can be seen as a reflection of our own position in society and the confidence we express at the misfortune of another person in an embarrassing situation.

The more confident someones is in them self that the situation would be unlikely to happen to them, then the more likely there are to laugh at the other persons misfortune. If you perceive that the situation that may happen to you, you are less likely to laugh, as the thought of a funny picture of yourself in a possibly compromised position is more unnerving.

Laughing outwardly at others misfortune is also a sign of the character of the person, a study by Dr Boris Sidis concluded in 1913. Dr Sidis concluded that laughter often displays the innate meanness of humanity. “Show me the kind of thing a man will laugh at, and I will show you the kind of man he is”.

Funny in its purest form escapes this classification and the purer the source of the comedy, the higher the state of the evolvement of the amused society Dr Sidis said. We laugh at what we think to be inferior to our own position in society.

Probably the purest form of this is the clown who from his very appearance has released the shackles of what we consider normal in an attempt through visual and mechanical mimicry to make us laugh. It is the clowns diversion from all normal behaviour that allows all of us to laugh with him as well as at him. As the clown does not relate to any normal position that we might find ourselves in we are released from weighing subconsciously whether the situation would adversely affect us.

With the proliferation of the internet throughout our society, we find a situation whereby we can search for our own form of ‘funny’. Be it funny pictures or literature, within the privacy of our homes and only shared between our PC and our self, we are not restrained by our social piers as to what we may laugh at. The proliferation of mediums such as You Tube are testament to this. Here you can find millions of examples of humour, the majority of which will not amuse the individual. However due to statistical variety available everyones taste is catered for and you are able to find something that amuses.

As for what makes us laugh…all I can say is that what makes us laugh only comes second to what puritans would say, is what makes us go blind!

About the Author

Funny Pictures is exactly what it says, a site full of funny pics. If you want to smile, think funny, think Those Funny Pictures.com

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point yesterday as part of another attempt to hold up the financial institutions on Wall Street from further speculation worries. The stock market took some confidence from the move and posted the largest one day gain on the Dow Jones index for quite some time. But as far as struggling home-owners are concerned, the rate cut has done little to ease pressure on their burden. In fact, by cutting interest rates and further weakening the dollar, the Fed had invited higher oil prices, increasing energy and transport costs at a time when most households are already feeling the pinch.

The rate cut which is the third in as many weeks follows the collapse of Bear Stearns, who were eventually bailed out and purchased by JP Morgan for the sum of $2 a share. Bear Stearns had been trading a year ago at nearly $150 dollars a share and fell victim to a run on their shares following rumours over their exposure to the sub-prime mortgage market and the extent of the losses they may have suffered.

The positives from this story are that the Federal Reserve was able to move quickly to back the takeover, helping to minimize the loss of confidence in the general banking sector. The negatives however, which will effect more on the average blue collar worker in America through the imported inflation that the lower dollar will bring, seems to reflect more on the political view of the current administration, who will bend over backwards to prop up the corporations at the expense of the man in the street.

And when your stoic republican points towards the tax rebate that is about to be delivered to every household, as an indication of what the government is doing for the average American in this time of need, don’t be fooled. The maximum $800 dollars rebate is more of a cynical move to help prop up the employment market before a presidential election than it is designed to combat higher gas, food and energy costs.

If the administration wanted to do more to help those affected by the current mortgage crisis they could start by suspending the ability of the banks to foreclose on homeowners by auto-computer programs. A large problem with the mortgage lenders at the moment is that they have out-sourced their administration to companies who are ill equipped or poorly trained to deal with the problems that are arising. These outsourcing companies never foresaw the numbers of cases that they would be dealing with and computerised most of their procedures to cut costs. What has resulted is computerised foreclosure, without consultation and where consultation occurs, it may already be too late to achieve a positive result.

If each case was required to be reviewed independently, it could be determined whether it was sold incorrectly to begin with and where possible it could be re-written so that those home-owners who were never going to be able to afford the true cost and were effectively swindled, could refinance under terms they may allow them to keep their home. This would, of course, create a back-up of cases, but this effective delay in foreclosing on peoples homes maybe the delay required to unravel the truths behind the companies that made billions of dollars profit from those who could least afford it.

About the Author

Neil Ebsworth is the founder of AMLASpain, the MLS for properties in Spain and with a home for sale in Mount Pleasant SC real estate in the US is keen observer of US Real Estate trends

Following a rise in interest in January, property purchasers looking to buy a holiday or retirement home on the Costa Blanca coast in Spain have been discouraged from completing on their purchases due to the increasing strength of the Euro against the pound.

The Euro which has been gaining strength not only against the pound, but against a weakening US currency, has come under increasing pressure to follow the US lead and cut interest rates to ease pressure on property markets world-wide as well as the spiraling cost of crude oil.

Problems for the ECB lie in the fact that the Euro zone economy has not seen economic indicators as strong as those in the US that a serious slowdown is on the way and have been retiscent to cut interest rates until more definitive signs are reported. Part of this problem could lie in the fact that the Euro zone economies are not yet homogeneous enough to warrant the single picture scenario. It could be seen that any interest rate cut would be more of a political move which may end up hurting some member countries economy at the expense of others. This was always going to be a problem with the Euro zone, where mobility of labour has been an issue.

With so many languages involved, it is much more difficult for the Euro zone workforce to cross borders and language divide to find jobs in another geographical area of the Euro zone. This means that pockets of unemployment appear next to areas of near full employment in a given industry or sector. Normally, as you would find in the US, a worker would be able to move from the East to West coasts to fill job shortages. In the Euro zone this does not happen leaving divergent economies being governed by one central banking policy.

As far as it affects property markets, the 10% depreciation of the pound against the Euro has all but wiped out any correction in Euro based property prices in Spanish coastal areas, which have been suffering from a correctional downturn for nearly three years. Popular resort towns such as Javea, Moraira and Calpe had seen some increased interest in property for the first time in more than a year. Since January though, the appreciating Euro has meant that prices for British residents, who make up the majority of purchasers, have effectively risen in real terms.

Hope now rests with the European Central Bank cutting interest rates to bring the exchange rates more into line with historical norms. Otherwise the market will continue to drive agents out of business at a rate never before seen. The lack of business in the sector is not only in the Costa regions of Spain. The domestic economy has seen share prices in construction company stocks plummet over recent months. Fears of over supply in the industry have driven stocks lower on the back off the weakened demand.

About the Author

Hot Property Spain are a local specialist agent dealing in Moraira Property. Also specialist in Javea Property & New Development properties in  the Costa Blanca.