Anatomy Of A Secret Code

Brainpower Newsletter

This week we have some brain exercise, a few good brainpower tips and news. (Also a little bit of fun with new business ideas in the New Ideas Department.)

Have you ever tried code breaking? How about code making? Either is a good activity for stimulating the brain. Breaking a secret code starts with an understanding of how often certain letters normally appear in written language, also known as "letter frequency."

Letter frequency varies by language, of course. It also varies according to topic. If you're speaking about jail and jokes told in jail, you'll use the letter "j" far more often than it is normally used. There are some differences between dialects, due to different word frequency and spellings. For example, the ending "ise" is more common in British English, while "ize" is used more in American English. As a result, the use of "z" is more common in American English.

Finally, everyone writes differently, a fact sometimes used to prove or disprove authorship, since the average sentence length, word length, and letter frequencies can be determined for each author. A forger can rarely forge an authors "style," as determined in part by these measurements. Interestingly, during World War Two, British code breakers used this kind of analysis to...

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http://www.increasebrainpower.com/code-breaking.html

- &, (the ampersand ) is a stylized version of the Latin word "et," meaning and."

- A bear normally has 42 teeth.

- The maximum weight for a golf ball is 1.62 oz.

75% can be written as 3/4. How would 58 1/3% be written as a fraction? (Thanks for this one Janice)

(Answer at the bottom of the newsletter.)

Eating fish to increase brainpower is not a myth. In tests, it actually speeds up brain waves, and improves concentration. There is also an almost perfect correlation between intake of fish and lowered levels of depression in the various countries of the world. For example, the U.S. has 24 times the incidence of depression as Japan, where fish intake is much higher.

Here is some firmer evidence for one of the brainpower herbs that I have mentioned on occasion. Apparently sage works as a memory enhancer. This was shown in a placebo-controlled, double-blind study. In two trials, 45 volunteers were given either standardized essential oil extract of sage (50 to 150 microls), or a placebo. When cognitive tests were conducted every hour for the next six hours, even the smallest doses of sage significantly improved immediate recall.

This is the fun page. You'll find short and sweet business ideas, in no particular order. By business ideas, I mean ideas for new businesses, as well as new concepts for existing businesses. Hopefully, some of these will be used and money will be made.

Motivational wake-up call service. Alarms are hard on the ears, and even de-motivating. Instead, set up the phone with your favorite ring, keep it next to the bed, and get a wake-up call. It is an automated service you pay for, and you get a different motivational message each morning - something to really get you going.

Fast-food drive-through tube. This would be like the tubes that you use at many bank drive-throughs, except they would have to stay level for the sake of the drinks. The idea is that one slow person won't hold up the whole line at the drive-through, because you can have several lines. Customers send their money in through the conveyor system, and get the food back the same way. Wait on four...

Continued here:
http://www.999ideas.com/business-ideas.html

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Until next time,

Steve

www.IncreaseBrainpower.com

Riddle Answer: 7/12.

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