THE LEFT LANE
The hunkiest jocks

Apolo Ohno, in Sports Illustrated Women

Professional surfer Laird Hamilton and world-class beach volleyball player Gabrielle Reece grace the cover of SIW's Swimsuit Issue, on newsstands Tuesday.

Every few weeks a call comes in to The Advertiser: "Did (the) Rev. Osumi ever collect his columns in a book? How can I get one?"

For more than three decades, the Rev. Paul S. Osumi's "Today's Thought" column had been a fixture in The Advertiser. Even after his death at age 90 in 1996, his children and grandchildren have continued to contributed a weekly excerpt for our Saturday Faith page. But Osumi's three pamphlet-size collections of his columns, first produced in the 1960s, had long been out of print, until this month, when Mutual Publishing released "Today's Thought, Vol. 1" ($5.95).

The book illustrates why believers and nonbelievers alike appreciate Osumi's distilled wisdom: for its inclusiveness, its empathy and its gentle guidance. The tidy volume is in stores now.

When Lauryn Hill's second album, the double-CD "MTV Unplugged 2.0," hit the streets with its 13 tracks and nine speeches, critics wondered what she was thinking. "At best, 'Unplugged' is a fascinating failure," wrote the Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot. "At worst, it's a self-indulgence that only her most ardent fans will embrace."

What she was thinking, Hill tells Essence magazine in the July edition was how important it was to spend time with her family and return to her spiritual roots.

The young mother who four years ago roped in a winner with "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" had down time in Jamaica, downsized her entourage and strove to find herself.

As for what her fans expect?

"Expectation is the mother of disappointment," she's quoted as saying.

Comic relief for kids

In a study at the University of California, Los Angeles, healthy kids watched funny TV shows and films while their hands were submerged in icy water for up to three minutes.

Their laughter, reports of pain and physical reactions were measured.

The results: Giggles can go a long way. When they got comic relief, the kids kept their hands in the cold longer and relaxed more, as measured by levels of the stress hormone cortisol.