Chuckling may combat stress from the war in Iraq. Or so military brass hope. “I laugh every chance I get,” says Colonel James Scott, the Pentagon’s new laughter instructor. He’s travelling America with “laughter training” for those left behind. Families of servicemen and women learn to walk like penguins, roar like lions and go “ha, ha, he, he and ho, ho” (it’s in the manual). “The guiding principle,” says Scott, “is to laugh for no reason.”
Spare a thought for Borge Ousland and Mike Horn as they try to cross 620 miles (1,000km) to the North Pole in the total darkness of Arctic winter, a two-month trek never previously attempted. The Norwegian and the South African will set off from Western Siberia, on foot, each pulling 300lb (140kg) of equipment. See, there are worse experiences than Britain’s railways.
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Be careful what you say in internet chatrooms. A man is suing erstwhile cyberbuddies for upsetting him in a forum run by America Online (he’s suing them, too). George Gillespie, 53, claims that Mike Marlowe and Bob Charpentier “insulted” him in the space “Romance — Older Men”, something they deny. Gillespie’s lawsuit, filed in Ohio, seeks more than £15,000 in damages. AOL has declined to chat about the case.
Chinese is more and more the language for trade and diplomacy in East Asia. Now Thailand, which has long required English to be taught in schools, is to introduce compulsory Chinese from this year and wants 30 per cent of pupils learning it within five years.
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Reporters have now got the most important medical opinion about Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s baby. And it’s good news: a plastic surgeon predicts a beautiful child. Angelina (Esquire’s “Sexiest Woman Alive” in 2004) and Brad (People’s Sexiest Man Alive” in 2000) can relax. Naturally, they must have worried whether good looks might be possible from such a union. But Dr Lawrence Reed, a Manhattan scalpel-wielder, is confident that his services won’t be necessary. “The eyes will be incredible,” he advises. “I can’t see this ever not working out.” Phew.
Sources: USA Today, National Public Radio, Court TV.com, The Christian Science Monitor, The Cincinnati Post