Quantum Spies

Most of my friends are 'spooks' - feisty, fearless females who conceal their pistols in designer handbags and carry two lipsticks, one glossy, and one that doubles as a listening device. 

Espionage is about gathering intelligence, not engaging in fist fights or pointless debates. While that can be entertaining, when on a mission, it's frivolous, dangerous behavior. 

Thanks to quantum cryptography, a secure means of communication that utilizes properties of light to encrypt information, messages can now be sent without having to deliver that briefcase in person. 

How does it work you ask? By reversing the magnetic field, which reverses absorption and later releases light. Essentially, the time evolution of atoms are reversed. This produces a photon echo: a photon goes in and a photon echo comes out. 

Not only can we control what messages come out, but also when they come out using a second control laser. The combination of control beam and magnetic field switching make it possible to choose exactly when to recall any of the stored pulses, how much of it to recall and how fast to recall it. 

So, what does a spy do all day while her quantum communication networks grow? 

Send out messages of solidarity across the globe to counteract unresolved tensions, social unrest, national angst, acrimonious politics, and stagnant economies to sweeten the experience of being with fresh, new insights into humor, philosophy, culture and quantum stuff. 

Occupy Solidarity

Occupy Solidarity

Beware of the Cuddle Monsters! 

Oxytocin was discovered by Sir Henry Dale in 1906. Dale realized that oxytocin could speed up labor by stimulating uterine contractions, and thus named it using the Greek words opus, for "swift," and tokos, for "birth."  


Oxytocin may also improve memory and learning, may someday be used as an antidepressant, and may even potentially serve as a weapon against Alzheimer's disease. 

Essentially, when exposed to oxytocin, our antistress systems are activated - our heartbeat slows; our body temperature rises, and time magically vanishes into thin air. 

Oxytocin is produced by the hypothalamus, and released by the pituitary gland into the bloodstream. It acts as a neurotransmitter that carries information across synapses, swaying emotions and behavior, promoting calming feelings and strengthening social bonds. Oxytocin is the endocrinological equivalent of candlelight, soft music and a glass of wine or a cup of warm, soothing coffee in the morning. No wonder oxytocin's been called the "cuddle hormone." 

Oxytocin in combination with endogenous opioid peptides are released during "maternal" interactions, which explains why we can forget about all the things we tell ourselves we need to be doing the moment we hug a child - or anyone - or anything, for that matter. 

No doubt, oxytocin is contagious because the moment we hug someone else, they seem to release it (oxytocin), too! 

I like to imagine the whole world going outside for one full-day to hug everyone they meet! People could also do this on Facebook and Twitter and My Sims! 

Conceivably, people everywhere could be hugging other people both inside and outside of their villages. People who live on the outskirts of communities, due to mere proximity, could be hugging people across the river who may be of different ethnic or religious faiths, who may speak different languages, or look different from them. 


Good oxytocin vibes would could literally travel through from one community to another until they reached everyone across the globe resulting in a Renaissance of Solidarity.  

This "cuddle hormone" has the power to inhibit the release of the stress hormones called glucocorticoids, which weaken the capacity of cells to survive traumas. Unleashing the potential of solidarity in our global community would conceivably evolve increased levels of oxytocin in our species' synapses that process information. This increase in human understanding could be harnessed into a heightened awareness that finally allows us to solve the world's most basic of problems (disease, famine, oppression). 

Stanford biologist Robert Sapolsky said that oxytocin might be Mother Nature's way of lending humanity a hand. 

Like I said...

Ancient Joke Riddles

The World's Oldest Recorded Jokes

Ever Found

A 3,500 year old Babylon tablet was discovered in 1976 by archaeologist J.J. van Dijk during excavations in present-day Iraq. Sadly, Iraq has been through three wars since 1976, and during the 2003 invasion, the Iraq Museum in Baghdad was pillaged. the tablet disappeared, but Dijk left behind a copy of what the tablet had to say, as well as an assertion that the tablet might have been the work of a student. 

Nathan Wasserman, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Institute of Archaeology, and Michael Streck, professor with the Altorientalisches Institut and Universität Leipzig, published a translation of the tablet in the journal Iraq. 

The jokes are a bit difficult to understand and are fragmentary. Also, if you do not understand the very rare Akkadian cuneiform script, then you, like me, may have to resort to filling in the pieces ourselves. 

While the tablet does contain some low-brow jokes, it also contains some ancient metaphorical ones, such as this riddle: 

The tower is high

it is high, but nonetheless has no shade (-What is it?)

The answer is sunlight. 

Wasserman stated, "It looks like a tower, but it gives no shade, of course, because it is light itself. The answer is the proof for its own validity." 

"As it is destined, so will humanity go." 

Wittgenstein, in his Philosophical Investigations, said that "Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language." 

It would seem that jokes free us, that they allow us to recognize our limitations without being defined by them. In other words, humor is a mechanism that detaches us from both tragedy and celebration, whereby we enter a neutral state of recognition of ourselves and others. 

Wittgenstein and the members of the Vienna Circle knew that the main role of philosophers was to release us from the linguistic tangles in which we trap ourselves. While our evolution has largely been associated with technological advances, humor frees us from even our own definition of self. 

No wonder we laugh...

It feels good to laugh...

How To Pass A Memory Test

Experts say that the key to intelligence may be the ability to remember many things at once. So, how do we improve fluid intelligence and simultaneously facilitate scientific learning? 

The Handy-Dandy

Is-Your-Brain-Awake Test!

1. Remember this name and address: 

     John Doe

     8925 Central Street

     Boston, MA

2. Remember these words: shop, common, eat

3. What did you wear yesterday and the day before? 

4. List the past five United States presidents. 

5. List four state capitals. 

7. List four kinds of birds. 

8. List four teachers you had in school. 

9. Who are the current vice president, secretary of state, and speaker of the house? 

10. Write down the three words you were asked to remember at the beginning of the quiz. 

11. Write down the name and address you were asked to remember at the beginning of the quiz. 

SCORING:

Give yourself 1 point for each piece of information you remembered (count each address line as a point)

If you scored: 

27 - 30     Your mind is a steel trap

20 - 26     Yeah, whatever

13 - 19     Uh, what was that again?

0 - 12     Consider a professional evaluation

MY ANSWERS:

1. √ (Got it!) 

2. √ (Got it!) 

3. Salmon, sushi

4. Georgie, Billy, Georgie, Ronnie, Jimmy

5. Clothes, clothes

6. CA, CA, CA, CA

7. Red bird, yellow bird, green bird, blue bird

8. 1st grade teacher, 2nd grade teacher 3rd grade teacher, 4th grade teacher

9. Joey, Hillary, Johnny

10. shop, common, eat

11. John Doe; 8925 Central Street, Boston, MA

MY SCORE: