Is someone with a No.2 pencil smile happier than someone with a No. 4 pencil smile. Most certainly yes... a No. 4 pencil is harder.

... And that's a fact! But both pencil smiles will help you "get it."

There is 'biting' scientific research that says if you are looking at *Gary Larson's The Far Side cartoons with a pencil between your teeth forcing a smile, you will naturally smile more at the same cartoon than the control group that doesn't have a pencil between their teeth. So. Yes, biting--as with a pencil between your teeth--WILL naturally compel you to really smile more naturally and enjoy what makes you smile better than those who smile randomly, so say the statistical nerds.

This scientific finding for many years has come under question lately when the results could not be duplicated, but even then, few have debunked the concept that a smile is still magic to a better, less hateful world.  And if it takes a pencil to make a smile, so be it.

But really, all of us know there are some in the world who do not smile, or joke or laugh often or never. That begs the question: How do they get by in today's world when even the ridiculous sometimes just has to be laughable. And follow-up question: How difficult is it to get along with them. (Listening Mr. President?)

*And now, the big reveal... and the reason I actually wrote this blog: Rumor has it, THE FAR SIDE cartoon by Gary Larson is coming back! There is none funnier.

 

After 20 years, The Far Side returns... we hope. Take that Rip Van Winkle

Side note: My California sister and I were driving through San Francisco's Golden Gate Park years ago and noticed a large number of cars in the de Young Museum parking lot. Curious on what was on display, we saw it was a showing of Gary Larson's The Far Side cartoons, so we stopped, of course. As we walked through the display of hundreds of his cartoons, we would hear a laughter from the other side of the room... then from behind us... then to our right and then to our left. In fact, the room was filled with continued laughter scattered here and there as a cartoon had struck a viewer funny. 

It was the most amazing thing of this scale that I had ever witnessed and a happy time was shared by all. Hundreds of laughs from the viewers filling the somber museum space with laughs and smiles from those listening as we laughed too, dozens of times. Yes, for those unfamiliar, The Far Side IS that funny. Google it now for a non-pencil smile... or put a pencil between your teeth and enjoy it even more. The the only question you might have is, "Are they laughing with you... or at you?"