Goodness gracious, folks – what a couple of weeks we’ve had here at Studio 1-A. I was out last week, so this week brings a double dose of SYSK goodness. Since it’s super-sized, let’s get right to it, shall we?

Last week, we covered mutually assured destruction and food cravings. MAD is the concept that basically got everyone through the cold war unscathed – or at least kept us from blowing each other to smithereens. The USA and Russia held each other in check in the arms race with the simple idea that if one of us were to have pushed “the button” it would have meant certain suicide. And who wants that?!

Food cravings was a fun one. We dived into some stats and facts and figures, but it was mostly about the science behind cravings and exactly what’s going on in the body when you ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE A SLOPPY JOE FISH TACO. Here’s a hint — there’s serious stomach brain connection going on.

This week we hit on hostage negotiation and near-death experiences. Both of these are pretty fascinating if you ask me. Hostage negotiations are pretty intense and believe it or not, what you see in the movies isn’t too far off from how it works for reals. There are stalling tactics, good cop-bad cop, and pizza deliveries!

Yesterday was near death experiences. This one posited some theories on what’s going on when you see that light at the end of the tunnel. Is it a religion thing? Is it science or just our body simply shutting down and doing wacky things? No one knows for sure, but I tend to side (as usual) with science on this one. I know, big surprise there.

So let’s hear it, folks. Who among you has:

• Had a near death experience
• Been a hostage or negotiated the release of one
• Had a food craving in the past week
• Seen the movie Wargames

Hope everyone has a great weekend wherever you lay your head. It’s supposed to snow here in Atlanta on Saturday. What the cuss?!?

Read if you want to be smart:
What’s Mutual Assured Destruction?
How Food Cravings Work
How Hostage Negotiation Works
How Near-death Experiences Work