The Dark Side of Humor: Seizure induced by Laughing

Dear Michael, well, didn't we found agreement at least on this very subject:  that however difficult life might be and how long it can take before our efforts in research pay out, threre is always one measure to keep us from giving up. I am talking about human laughter. And it was not only Aristoteles who described human laughter as devine, but it was also identified in several medical studies as promoting health, protecting from various diseases and extending longevity.  I remember when we were riding on the bike through Munich, and you pushed me forward, I felt I should protest against this but in fact I could not, but instead I fell into laughter instinctively. And you said "12 laughters a day keeps the doctor away" ?  And I thought that at least for short term you were right, and it made me feel happy.

But now I red this article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Case Reports (Impact factor 0.4), entitled "Laugh-induced seizure: a case report" by MR Mainali et al from the Health System Department of Medicine in Reading, Pennsylvania. The patient, a 43 caucasian men suffered from "...multiple episodes of seizures, all induced by laughter while watching comedy shows..." (hic!) The patient described the conditions himself as following: "... I started laughing, then my arms started shaking and I felt like my consciousness was being vacuumed away... ". Now I became suspicious, whether I am suffering from the same symptoms. I don't mean that I felt my "...consciousness being vacuumed away..." those days on the bike in Munich, but my arms indeed started to shake a bit when you pushed me forward, and I lost control over the bikes handlebar. So it might have ended dangerous indeed, at least in this situation on the bike.

The authors of the study tested several treatments to help the poor man. The anti-convulosant drug Carbamazepine appeared to prevent the seizures for several month, but according to the FDA this drug has several potential side effects, in particular onto the unborn child of pregnant mothers. The authors concluded in their study that the safest measure against the seizures is by preventing all laugh-inducing situations.  I have to admit, since I started my PhD here in Stockholm, the frequency of laugh-inducing moments went down a little bit. I think to benefit from the healthy effects of laughter, I should instead expose myself intentionally to some extra laugh-inducing situations. As the authors very firmly state at the end of their paper, "... Smiles and laughter are universal human social gestures that involve a complex sequence of facial, pharyngeal and diaphragmatic muscle contractions and help to establish a friendly interaction with other people."  Unfortunatly, they don't make any suggestion about the Comedy that was so efficient in their patient to make him Rolling-on-the-Floor-Laughing.

Take Care, and keep smiling

/ghazal

Accelerating Evolution on Mars

Hello Michael, 

You have probably heard that last week a new mars rover landed succesfully on Mars surface, and how this event was enthusiastically wellcomed by NASA and the entire scientific community. It follows a long series of less brilliant failures to get a working mars robot up there, one that could produce more than just pretty pictures. This new mission of an explorer vehicle called "Couriosity" is officially intended to test the existence of lower forms of life on our neighbor planet. For this purpose, "Couriosity" carries on board a couple of sophisticated devices, some that can take samples from mars' surface or from deeper layers of the ground in order to apply sensitive detection methods for organic molecules, considered to be exclusively produced by living organisms. I am wondering if they are looking there for a sort of blood stains, or some traces of blond hair or spit-out chewing gum.

What makes this new Mars exploration so special (for me as a radiation biologist) is the fact, that the rovers energy supply comes from about 5 kg of plutonium 235, providing 120 W electric energy for at least five years. Thats fine, I would say from an engineers point of view, and I would also like to drive my old Benz with this sort of low-emission, low-cost and low-maintenace type of fuel.

But the radiation-biologist in me (and I hope you agree somehow) has to wonder about the long term consequences of 5 kg plutonium, a potent alpha emitter, if it comes to its mutatgenic effects on living organisms. Assuming the plutonium is accidentally released from the mars rover and evenly spread over the hypothetical mars ecosphere,  it would cause a tremendous rise of the mutation rate in all cells, whether low prokaryotes or in higher and multi-cellular creatures like plants or animals or anything else in between. This means the 5 years mission of the man-made Mars rover will not only explore the presence of live on Mars, but if there is any, it will also drive evolution by increasing the number of new mutants. So scientists will not only be the silent observers, but active players of an extra-terrestrial evolution of life.

I am afraid, that with this man-made mutation burden, the mars creatures will indeed soon look like those in Tim Burtons "Mars Attacks". But for this, we have to blame nobody else than ourself.

I am more than worried now looking up the sky at night. There are not only beautiful meteor showers and the romantic moon, but from now on there might also be a laboratory of accelerated evolution on mars.

Take Care, yours sincerely
/ghazal

The magnificance of Irans Nature

Dear Ghazal, Yesterday night the french-german TV channel Arte broadcasted this amazing two-series documentary about the magnificance of Irans Nature. And by chance (or perhaps not really by chance but due to a telepathic link of two like-minded souls), both Omid and myself were watching it. When we met in the morning at coffee break, we were both still out-of-breeze about the beautiful pictures, so we decided that we will travel Omids home-country next summer. In fact he already invited me several times, but I always had some issues regarding the current political tensions between the Regime in Tehran and the West. And Omid convinced me that he will teach me how to get around all hussles there. So we made firm plans for 2013, we will begin the Great Game again. Whats about you, Ghazal, will you accompany us ? It would be so much nicer, and of course we both would take care of you and protect you from the wild creatures all around.

To give you some taste of what will expect you if you come with us to visit the land of your ancestors, have a look at the Arte TV series (you can change the language to german in the tiny menue on the bottom, if you prefer):

The second serie goes to the north and north-west of Iran, visiting the reservation-area Golestan, Elburs Mountains and the Caspian Sea. It also shows peoples visiting Hafiz' tomb in Shiraz and reading his poems with great passion. Rare wild creatures such as Brown-Bear, the beautiful Ghazel, Leopard and Caucasian Deer. The animal photographs of the Serie were shot by Benny Rebel, a gifted expert of animal behaviour and the aesthetics of life.

(You can also watch the two documentaries full-screen size by pressing the tiny rectangular button below the videos.)

A Night Walk at Full Moon

Hi Michael,

I just arrived at home, after driving my friends home. Very tired. I sweared to myself I wont do this any more. You know what happened ? In the middle of the night, more than a kilometer from home, my car stoped without any obvious reasons (Except for a loud noise that came from somewhere under it). Hey, what is that with your german cars? It is a Benz (o.k., not very young any more), how can it just let me stand alone on the road in the middle of the night ? The disgusting thing was that my mobile also was low on battery, so can you imagine I had to walk home at 2 o"clock a.m.?
My only rescue was the bright, full moon. It was so strong, that I could always see my moon-shadow.

Hope you are fine, sleep well.
TAKE CARE,
/ghazal

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Ghazal my Dear,

Poor you, must be a frightening experience to walk home in the middle of the night. I guess it was not the kind of walk that you liked so much here in Munich, to let you thoughts flow and to recharge your vitamine D pool in the sun. I have to estimate, if and how much moon-light is any good to synthesize it. But I guess it has no UV-A, what do you think ? By the way, wouldn"t it be a interesting project to study in photobiology in cells using moon-light ?
So you worked as a driver again. I suspect people exploit your reluctance to drink any alcohol at the party and invite you as the driver.
The moon was visible here as well. If you can, make a photo of your moon shaddow.
The one below I did in our garden.

Take Care, my Cat on the Moon,
Michael

Darbareye Elly

hi michael,

I did not knew before that UV-light is so essential for our body to produce vitamine D. Interesting aspect, I have to consider this in my PhD-project. So maybe after UV-exposure my TK60 cells are really better off, cause they finally get some vitamine D after living for too long time in the dark incubator ? ;-) And what do you say now: Last year you have been wondering why I prefer to walk home instead of taking the bus. I then told you it is very relaxing for me, cause this way I can let my thoughts flow freely. Now it appears that I intuitively might have known that it is really healthy to spend some time out in the open to reconstitute my vitamine D reservoir.

I already saw the movie "Darbareye Elly" (what means "All About Elly", but the original title in persian is "Kanojo ga kieta hamabe")  about two years ago, after it received the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin film festival. But I watched it again yesterday with Shava.

I liked the movie, although it was no easy entertainment. It had no Happy End, but a Tragic End.
The story starts very relaxed, showing three young families (including Ahmad, brother of one of the women, who just came from Germany where he divorced) spending a weekend at a seaside cottage at the caspian sea. The three families have the silly idea to bring together the lonely Ahmed with the baby-sitter Elly, although they know that she is engaged with another man in Teheran. Whereas all the three couples and Ahmed start to make stupid jokes about this plan, laugh about Elly when she is not around and all appeare very superficial to me, Elly herself is much more closed. She is a girl with some mysteries, she keeps secrets and does not like the continious jokes about the attempted matchmaking a lot. She tries to do the job that she was officially hired for: looking after the little kids of the three families. She frequently calls her mom, who is ill, and after one day she decides that it is better to return to Teheran. The three couples don"t want to let her go, they hide her luggage and her mobile phone. She says that she has to leave and would even walk home. The three couples and Ahmad ignore her and start to play Volleyball and go shopping. Elly helps the kids to fly a kite, but suddenly one of the little boys falls into the water and almost dies. The three man, interrupting their game get panik and jump into the sea, so finally the boy is rescued. But after some minutes they recognise that Elly is missing. And suddenly, the relaxed relationship between the three couples and Ahmed turn into aggression and hate. Everybody accuses the others of beeing responsible for the desaster.

After one day, indeed Ellys dead body is found in the sea: She obviously died while trying to rescue the little boy. The three couples now have to inform some relatives of Elly about the accident, and they can only find Alireza, the man to whom Elly was engaged since three years. They find out his telephone number and ask him to come, claiming that Elly is just ill. When he arrives at the site, finding out that she in fact died, he breaks down. The three couples don"t want to admit that Elly was only invited to this weekend trip to match her to the divorced Ahmad. They try to make Alireza believe that Elly was hired exclusively as a baby-sitter. So they want to get around the conflict by adding more and more lies on top of each other. You can feel how their only concern is to get away with their responsibility.

I think Asghar Farhadi, the movie director, tried to show that this practise of organized partnerships for young family-members is highly questionable and it bears the seed for a tragedy. It is based on the arrogant idea that relatives know best what is good for their son or brother or daughter, and they can easily find a suitable partner using their own judgement. It is obvious that Elly hates this, since she is not sure about her 3 year long engagement with Alireza. But the three stupid couples and Ahmad think that they have the right to interfere with her emotions. They make unpolite jokes about Elly, they lie, and they dont respect her privacy. They are too superficial to see that Elly is full of doubts about her future, and that she does not want to be pushed into a new relationship. She has thoughts that are not for the public, emotions that she does not want to show around.
At the end, this stupid idea of pushing two person together leaves behind two victims: a physical one (Elly, who dies) and her former boyfriend Alireza (who breaks down emotionally). The bad thing is that the three couples continue to lie to Alireza although they see how much he suffers from Ellies death: They tell him that Elly knew from the beginning that the weekend-trip with the three families was intended to bring her together with Ahmad. By this lie, the three couples so cruely leave the mourning Alireza believe, that his girl-friend Elly was searching for an easy adventure with another man. But Elly, in fact, never agreed with this, she said she only joines the company to look after the kids.

I would like to hear what you think about the movie.

take care
/ghazal

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Ghazal my Dear,

Tonight I went to see the movie "Darbareye Elly". It was shown in one of the very small cinemas here, which are specialized on Arthouse movies.

Although you had told me already a lot about it before, it was nice to see it. After the first 5 minutes of the movie, however I thought that we might talk about two different things, cause it started so nice and relaxed, when they drove through the tunnel and all were just shouting for fun. And then they had this short stop-over at a small river, and I immediately recognised the russian Samovar, because we have exactly the same one (as part of a big collection of even older ones). And in the beach cottage, I recognised the old russain fridge, type "Wolga", cause we have the same one in our cottage in Bulgaria. So initially I was a bid distracted by pictures, also had problems to follow the subtitles and at the same time understand the relationship between all the characters and their names (you should have provided me with a sort of set-list of all character and who is married to whom and which kid belongs to which couple). Anyhow, after a while I got the impression that all the seven characters are interchangeable, they looked differently but acted similar. The only exception was Elly, who was mysterious. When she disappeared after the accident with the boy I was hoping for about an hour, that she might not have died in the sea, but just left the place to escape the silly jokes and the attempted match-making. When she was eventually identified in the mortuary it was really sad and I was almost ready to leave the cinema.

Elly reminded my a lot of you, Ghazal. She was also calm and the exact opposite of the loud and superfiscial society around her. She had secrets, that she wanted to keep for herself. She had an aura of pride and aristocracy, which stoud in sharp contrast to the other characters who never thought about the right of privacy or secrets. It is a pitty that it was Elly who died in the movie. I so much wished to see her finding a new live, deciding about her own future, to stay strong and nice and get happy.

As usual , I wish you all the best, success with the project, happyness in daily life but also exciting dreams.

Take Care, Ghazal.

Michael

Relax with a kinetic sculpture

Hi Ghazal my Dear,

Reading you last e-mails I got the impression that you are most excited if I send you links to some "moving pictures" (the origin of the word MOVIE, as you perhaps know). The german translation is KINO, which comes from french CINEMATOGRAPH, meaning "moving or kinetic image" and what gave rise to the english CINEMA.

Why I tell you all this stuff ?  Not only because I remember the films we saw together here in Munich, and the nice time we had before and afterward.
There is another reason, and this I discovered last weekend at the BMW museum (can"t remember if you went there with your family or with Shava). Perhaps the most impressive object in the museum is the so-called "kinetic sculpture", an arrangement of steel balls hanging on wires that can all be individually moved up and down by a machine, thereby generating the most astonishing images of slowly moving 3D-sculptures.

I am almost sure, Ghazal, you will like this. And I am also sure that you work hard these days, same as you did during your MSc project here, and therefore you deserve some relaxing videos at night.

Enjoy, Take Care

Michael

As always, I hope you are doing fine and stay as nice and symphatic and strong as you have always been.

PS: Had a look at the swedish word for cinema, and this is Bioskop. No clue what "Bio" means therein. There is a type of apple, which is called Boskoop, but this I guess is a coincidental similarity. And Cinema is written in Persian as
سينما
And here, you see, I don"t even know how this is pronounced. So many things I have to ask you.

Baby you can drive my 007 Aston Martin

Hi Michael,

I came home yesterday, at night. Everything went good and I passed. I think the half-moon brought me luck. Thank you for all your help. I dont think anyone understood my project really, only one professor was asking me questions, but it was only some questions about the graphs.

Hope everything is fine with you.

take care
/ghazal

PS: At the end I"d like to tell you something funny: Do you know that right during my exam at UCL a few miles further south the road, at Battersea Park (must have been the area where you lived between 1993 and 1995) the real James Bond 007 Aston Martin car was auctioneered, and it "went over the counter" for 2.6 Mill. Pound. Some scenes from the original movie are here. And the most impressive intro with the title song by Shirley Bassey. Don"t know if you like this.
What I just found funny was the idea, that - while I was struggeling at UCL through the exam - you went to the auction at Battersea Park to bet for this car (I know your crazy love for exquisit vehicles ;-}

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Ghazal my Dear,

I can"t tell how happy I was hearing from you. How do you feel now, after having passed this important step on your professional path ? Do you feel relieved now, or rather exhausted ? Do you want me to update your homepage, stating that you now completed your MSc successfully ?
What are your next plans ? If you start to feel homesick for Munich, the guesthouse and who knows what else: Just take the next flight that brings you here.

Its very sunny those days, cold in the morning but usually gets quite warm during the day. Occasionally, I still go swimming in the lake after work. This morning I met your horse, but I think it did not saw me because of the mist.

I"m fine, more or less. Usually, when I got a mail from you and you ask about this I immediately feel alright. It is just the days when I don"t hear from you that make me become despair. Have not yet found a remedy for this.
What is realy a big, big relieve for me: That I don"t have this feeling of guilt anymore for illegally mixing personal feelings and professional relations, and that you might feel obliged to write or meet me only because you worry about the progress of your thesis. Its good that this is not an issue any more, that you passed your exam with glamour and you are now a fresh Master-of-Science. And I know that if you send me a mail now than this will only be because you like to do so and not because you think you have to please your supervisor. About this I am so happy, Ghazal.
It is a pitty that I missed the Battersea Car Auction, since I like James Bond a lot. But it is not just for the exquisit cars that he used to drive, but I admire the whole character of 007 and how he is placed in the system a lot. He represents a sort of prototype british hero: not ranking at the top of the hirarchie (like all the clerks of Q and M and the directors and minister and the prime-minister in their offices), 007 is the out-door hero, the one doing the field work. But at the end it is him who deserves our sympathy, who is the funny one and whom the girls like most for his smartnes and his humor and his dirty elegance.

Back to the Scrap-Yard

Ghazal, my Dear,

After dropping you at the Guesthouse today, I was quarreling once again with myself for having missed the opportunity to kiss you. It was silly, I know, in particular after I made this terrible observation at a scrap-yard for cars. There I found the remnants of a red Toyota Corolla, that had its upper part shaved away as if St.Michaels sword was used to convert into a cabriolet, and the chairs stained with blood. Obviously, a whole families life was extinguished in an terrible car accident, perhaps within tenth of a second.
Maybe at least once in life one should see how instantly all our long-term plans can literally end in a scrap-compactor and our patience while waiting for second chances in life becomes obsolete.


Therefore I so much enjoy the moments with you, although I always know in advance how terrible it will be later on, when I have to leave you.

Michael

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hi michael,

yes it is nice to be with you. but as friends. and we know that i will leave soon, to go back home.
about the kiss,i am greatful that you did not go so far because i appreciate your friendship very much.hope you understand.

good night and have a good week-end.

/ghazal
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Hi Ghazal dear,

I very much appreciate your clear and firm statement, I think it is always best to be honest. I hope you considered my open, maybe shameless words in the last e-mail the same way and can tolerate them. The things are as they are, I have no clear idea how to handle it, no experience how to get alonge when emotional and professional relations intermingle. I very much admire that you deal with everything more wisely. For me it is a big help that you can live with the persian-cat blog (as long as it keeps your privacy intact) and that you have no problems communicating by e-mail with me.
What is most important right now, that your MSc project is not hampered, I think it even benefits from it. If you got a different feeling, please tell me.

Take Care, Sleep well

Michael

Sandman and Sauerkraut

Hi Ghazal my Dear,

It was a pitty I found your e-mail (the one you wrote 2 o"clock a.m. last night) only this morning.
Hopefully, you did not stoud awake for the rest of the night waiting for an answer. If I would have known that you didn"t sleep yet, I would have checked my mail-box at night again.
Sometimes it is fascinating to stay awake, while the rest of the world sleeps, don"t you think so ? One gets the feeling to be alone in the universe with its own thoughts, which can evolve more freely then. I think the night is a very productive time if one has to bring back to mind what happened during the day. O.k., one might lack some of the important REM-Phases in such a night, but this might be compensated by some extra nocturnal experiences. By the way, we have here in Germany the mythological figure of the Sandmann, a very friendly little gnome who visits all kids in the evening and blows them some sand into the face (to make them sleepy). Do you have such a character in Sweden too ? Here we even have a daily short TV-program featuring Sandman for the kids. This is supposed to be the signal for them to go to bed.

What you wrote about the relationship to your mom was very intriguing, and it is perhaps a rare case that between the generations such an intense and confidental link exists. But perhaps you are also very important for your mom,like the outpost in the modern world. For sure, she needs you as much as you need her. I would be extremely courious to see how you explain your mom your newly discovered love for our Sauerkraut. I mean the stuff is really delicious, therefore I absolutely understand you eat almost the whole pack at once. But still, the stuff is considered so typical german, that a commonen nickname for Germans in english is KRAUT.
But meanwhile, Sauerkraut also became very popular on the Balkan states (ask Natascha), in Russia and even in Korea (where they add some very spicy ingredients). And now, for the first time in history, we might see Sauerkraut even become a delicatesse in Sweden and Persia (with your help as a gourmet ambassador).

Ghazal, my dear, in case you want to hear some nice radio music tonight: a few minutes ago a 5 hours program about the Beatles started on Bavarian Radio 2 . You might find the station on your radio at 88.4 MHz or 89.5 MHz.

I hope you had a nice day and you had your own sunshine inside of you. I wish you a relaxing and inspiring evening and a night with nice dreams.

Take Care
Michael
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hi michael,

i slept directly after the email, its fine=)

i never thought about that, that u could be the awake while the world sleeps. i just have that feeling when i drive at night. i feel so free and that the road is mine haha.
no, i have never heard about the sandman before. how can sand make u sleep i wonder.

i ate all the sauerkraut today. really tasty. i told my mum about it and she think she knows what it is, i will show her when she comes.

i wish u a good night as well!!

/ghazal

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Ghazal, my dear,

you are perhaps an angel flying around at night in your dreams. Where do you drive at night in your car ? Could be dangerous, dont you think so ? But maybe you are looking just for this danger at night ?
Do you remember when I suggested your preference for the taste of Bitter Lemon might have something to do with a general feeling of convidence and overwhelming happiness, so you are intentionally seeking for some risk that gives you a thrill. It is the same why people go to the Tivoli fun fair, they usually only go if they are happy. And the thrill of danger at the giant wheel or the train-of-horrors shall add some flavour to an otherwise to monotonous happiness.

Ghazal, I miss you a bit.

Michael

Max Speed Driving Home

Dear Ghazal,

Are you still awake ? It would be fair enough to escape this grey evening into morpheus empire (as an explanation for us and all other atheists : morpheus was the god of dreams and sleep in greek mythology).
I probably will watch a movie tonight in TV, therefor I stay up. Movie is called Brokeback Mountain, maybe you heard about it. It is about two gay cowboys and got very good critics and won several Oskars. I saw some other movies by the same director Ang Lee, which I liked.
Do you have some films to watch on your PC ? I will check next week if I find some DVDs in english language that I could give to you.

After I dropped you at the guesthouse tonight, I drove back along the completely empty Ingolstaedter Strasse. I tried maximum speed and for a couple of seconds reached 170 kmh. Thanks god, I did not fall asleep again. But this would have be extremely unlikely today, first because it is low altitute here, and second, but more relevant, because I always feel very inspired when we drove somewhere together and I ccould listen to your voice.

O, before I forget, here is something important for you (you see I first let you wait and make you read all this nonsense about a movie, my high-speed adventure and your voice before releasing the information that you asked me for):

There is indeed a shop called Adidas Original Munich. It is in Hohenzollernstrasse, near Munchener Freiheit. I"m sure you will find something suitable for your brother there. Lets go there tomorrow after work, and later I can bring you straight to your Airport Bus.

Hope you are fine

Good night

Michael

Swedish Guide through IKEA

Dear Ghazal,

You probably filled your apartment already with the vanilla smell coming from the scent candle. Be carefull you don"t fall asleep with the candle still burning !!!
Was Chrysi satisfied with the pillow ? I was really amazed when I saw you testing the quality of the different cushions at the IKEA store. It so much reminded me of the fairytale "Prinzess on the pea" by Anderson (I think in swedish it is call "Prinsessan på ärten"). Did your parents told you this story ? If not, remind me of it and I will tell you sometime.
Ghazal, I have to admit that I was lying to you today: I have never been to this IKEA befor. I guess you felt it already when I drove 20 km to far north. Thanks god you are such a polite person that you did not said anything. I hope you are not disappointed now. I promise you, in general I"m very thrustworthy. An in particular if it comes to finding a way through an unknown landscape.

I will send you the old e-mail with the pictures from Berlin to your Helmholtz-Address, cause the images are probably to large to be seen on your mobile.

Sleep well ,
Michael

PS: I rarely had such an entertaining ride on the motorway, through the rain and the traffic jam as today with you. And I"m very happy if I can make you laugh.

Driving north

Why was it so much easier to talk, when we were driving in my car north out of town. You seemed relaxed, your smile returned, it was a pleasure driving through the evening sun. For the first time since days you began to tell me something about you, something that was more than pure facts. I so much enjoy listening to your voice, it has a dazzlingly beautiful sound and if you laugh it is like the whisper of a small river running through a mountain plain.
How sad, that I was driving too fast, and that we arrived at your place already after 5 minutes. Is it possible that you lost your spontaneity as soon as I stoped the car and got my hands off the steering wheel ? If it is this what makes you nervous, then maybe we drive next time a bit further, maybe to Ikea where you can have swedish pizza with some extra mouse-sausage on top. I promise I leave my hands on the steering wheel, I would not need pizza in this moment, as long as you will be there to talk with.