Sitting on a newspaper for travel sickness - I don't think it has anything to do with static. It's a way of making you lean into corners, insteadof being thrown out by them (the newspaper slides, so that your hips are not a fixed point, and they get slung outwards by the force, rather than your shoulders).

This is why drivers don't tend to get travel sick - they already lean into the corners by turning the wheel.

Bagpuss