Good classes today...
I was in fine lecture form, I think. Probably one of my best teaching days ever. I started with a girl laughing in Tanzania, went into the meaning of laughter, and from there went into a long talk about mass hysteria. It's good enough that I might use it in my podcast, I think. I want to check myself and check the two versions of audio I snagged to put together the best version. But, yeah, I thought I knocked it out of the park today.
HJ
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3 comments:
Do tell, laughter is so subjective.
Except, when quoting Allen, subjectivity is objective.
And my word is 'nonsch'
Well, the meaning is somewhat elusive so far, but an intrepid psychologist sent out researchers to a mall to eavesdrop on people and record the last bits of conversations before people laughed, and they found that most of the time, laughter did not follow a joke. Or anything remotely funny. Like "Tomorrow I have a test." One good candidate for what a laugh is has to do with social bonding or to indicate "This is a good place." "This is safe." Or "Nobody really fighting over here." Check this:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327200.800-10-mysteries-of-you-laughter.html
So these are some possibilities. It was such a fun class.
I've been listening to the sound quality and it's not so great. I'm not hooked to a mic and so when I get away from the podium, my voice becomes almost a figment of your imagination. So I will have to try to find a way to get this together without making it sound too strange.
HJ (My verification word is coundem, which is the British spelling of "condom.")
I flipped through a book recently at the library that discussed that very occurrence in 1962. I'm working my way through it now and it's highly interesting - here's amazon's info for it: http://bit.ly/2Z163R
It's called "Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives"
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