Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 15:59:06 -0700 (MST) From: John Galt <galt@inconnu.isu.edu> To: cjclark@alum.mit.edu Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: [marca@chem2.harvard.edu: mini-AIR Dec 2000 - Blow Your Coat, Truth, Beauty, Gas] Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0012061555450.22873-100000@inconnu.isu.edu> In-Reply-To: <20001206004915.J99903@149.211.6.64.reflexcom.com>
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I thought JIR (When did they change?) was based in your neck of the
woods--Cambridge...
On Wed, 6 Dec 2000, Crist J . Clark wrote:
> The AIR show is going to be at USC Berkeley. I thought that since a
> lot of the people on this list are in that area and some may have
> interest in this type of silliness that I would take the first line of
> their text to heart.
>
> ----- Forwarded message from Marc Abrahams <marca@chem2.harvard.edu> -----
>
> Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 13:58:09 -0500 (EST)
> Errors-To: marca@chem2.harvard.edu
> Reply-To: mini-air@chem.harvard.edu
> Originator: mini-air@air.harvard.edu
> Precedence: bulk
> From: Marc Abrahams <marca@chem2.harvard.edu>
> To: Multiple recipients of list MINI-AIR <mini-air@chem.harvard.edu>
> Subject: mini-AIR Dec 2000 - Blow Your Coat, Truth, Beauty, Gas
> X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0d -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
> X-UIDL: e82bcf4edb19a79b086e2f05072f69f3
>
>
> PLEASE FORWARD/POST AS APPROPRIATE
> ================================================================
> mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
> Issue Number 2000-12
> December, 2000
> ISSN 1076-500X
> Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> A free newsletter of tidbits too tiny to fit in the
> Annals of Improbable Research (AIR),
> the journal of inflated research and personalities
> ================================================================
>
> -----------------------------
> 2000-12-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
>
> 2000-12-01 Table of Contents
> 2000-12-02 mini Housekeeping
> 2000-12-03 What's New in the Magazine
> 2000-12-04 Good Coffee Survey
> 2000-12-05 International Gas Experiment
> 2000-12-06 Project Blow-Your-Coat
> 2000-12-07 Coat-Blowing in the USA
> 2000-12-08 Sentence of Death: Scolasticism
> 2000-12-09 The Truth About Beauty
> 2000-12-10 The Young Turk: a Detective Story
> 2000-12-11 The Y2K Nostalgia Club
> 2000-12-12 Cavalcade of HotAIR: Bare Skin, $$, Peruvian Truckers
> 2000-12-13 Project AIRhead 2000: Beast, Fan, Ball
> 2000-12-14 Postal Frights
> 2000-12-15 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Holiday Research
> 2000-12-16 AIRhead Events
> 2000-12-17 How to Subscribe to AIR (*)
> 2000-12-18 Our Address (*)
> 2000-12-19 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
> 2000-12-20 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
>
> Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
>
> mini-AIR is
> a free monthly *e-supplement* to AIR, the print magazine
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-02 mini Housekeeping
>
> 1. AIR show at UC BERKELEY on SUNDAY, DEC. 10 (See section 2000-
> 12-16 below.) Spread the word.
>
> 2. IG ON RADIO -- The annual National Public Radio broadcast of
> the (recorded, edited) Ig Nobel Ceremony was postponed due to the
> NPR radio coverage of US election news. It is tentatively
> scheduled for the final Friday in December. Info will be posted at
> <http://www.sciencefriday.com>; and at <http://www.improbable.com>;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-03 What's New in the Magazine
>
> AIR 6:6 (Nov/Dec 2000) is the special ECCENTRICS issue.
>
> Special versions of many of the articles will be cropping up on
> the AIR web site during the next few weeks.
>
> A sampling of the article titles:
>
> <> "Edward D. Cope, Heads Above the Rest, the First
> Electronic Publisher in Science," by Earle E. Spamer
>
> <> "The Gentle Art of Political Taxidermy: Charles Waterton,
> Squire of Walton Hall," by Sally Shelton
>
> <> "Chonosuke Okamura, Visionary," by Earle E. Spamer
>
> <> "A Fundamentally Eccentric Premise," by L.X. Finegold
>
> <> "Eccentric Research Recommendations," by Stephen Drew
>
> <> "Frank "Bring 'Em Back Alive and Ready to Eat" Buckland,"
> by Sally Shelton
>
> <> "Decoding the British ack-SEN-triks Movement: A
> Phonemological Analysis," by Harold P. Dowd
>
> <> "ASK SYMMETRA: Unbearably Stacked,"
> by Scientist/supermodel Symmetra
>
> See the cover and full table of contents, and several of the
> articles posted any day now at
> <http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6.html>;
>
> (What you are reading at this moment is mini-AIR,
> a monthly e-mail small supplement to the print magazine.)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-04 Good Coffee Survey
>
> It is time, once again, to choose and settle a burning or boiling
> scientific controversy. This month's choice is of the boiling,
> rather than burning, variety. Scientific correctness survey #402
> asks:
>
> Scientifically speaking, what makes a good cup of coffee?
>
> If you have a rich, full-bodied, perfectly brewed answer, please
> send it (in CONCISE form!) to COFFEE SURVEY, c/o
> <marca@chem2.harvard.edu>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-05 International Gas Experiment
>
> Investigator Philip Miller Tate of Kingston University in the UK,
> has proposed a novel experiment in international inflammation. In
> his words:
>
> As a chemistry lecturer with an interest in the environment,
> I propose the following public survey:
> I am curiously interested in the accuracy of the assertion
> made by French President Chirac recently, that "Each
> American produces three times as much greenhouse gases
> as a Frenchman". Is he correct, or has he just been eating
> too much French beef?
>
> Please participate in our survey by answering the following two
> questions:
>
> 1. Is President Chirac correct about the gassiness of the average
> American? (YES/NO)
>
> 2. Will Dr. Philip Miller Tate succeed in creating an
> international gas-fired conflagration? (YES/NO)
>
> Please send your answers to GASSY INCIDENT SURVEY, c/o
> <marca@chem2.harvard.edu>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-06 Project Blow-Your-Coat
>
> Please join us in carrying out Project Blow-Your-Coat. The goal is
> to introduce into wide circulation the evocative scientifical
> phrase "blow your coat."
>
> The phrase described a phenomenon observed in chinchillas. When
> startled, they sometimes shed their fur. Veterinarians call this
> "blowing the coat." The phrase can be applied, at least in a
> metaphorical way, to humans -- thus the inception of Project Blow-
> Your-Coat.
>
> RECOMMENDED USAGE: as a folksy, yet precise way of urging someone
> to relax rather than to act startled, or to suggest that someone
> has overreacted.
>
> EXAMPLE #1: "Don't blow your coat, man."
>
> EXAMPLE #2: "When Professor Sigerson saw the bill, she totally
> blew her coat."
>
> INCENTIVE BONUS: After you succeed in getting even one person to
> habitually use the phrase "blow your coat," you will be authorized
> by the Blow-Your-Coat Foundation to affix the Blow family coat of
> arms to the arm of your coat. You can see the Blow coat of arms at
> <http://members.aol.com/BloStnd/Arms.html>;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-07 Coat-Blowing in the USA
>
> Seven (7, a number that has been confirmed by machine re-count)
> mini-AIR readers blew their coats after reading last month's
> salute to mathematics teacher K. Harris. Three of these readers
> demanded that we "do something."
>
> Here is the something -- an omni-partisan, internationally
> inflammatory statement. Like last month's salute, this statement
> may be useful to mathematics and statistics teachers. Though
> superficially about the recent Florida singularity, it can be
> applied to the sordidly amusing clash of any political parties in
> any close election anywhere:
>
> * * *
> INFLAMMATORY 3-PART PARTISAN STATEMENT:
>
> 1) When it was clear that the Florida vote was a virtual tie --
> and before ANYONE knew which way the initial count would go -- we
> predicted that WHOEVER came out ahead in the initial count would
> try everything under the sun to prevent a careful recount, and
> that both sides would twist the mathematics beyond recognition.
>
> 2) The prediction was entirely accurate. Slap a minus sign on the
> initial difference and you would have seen exactly the same
> exaggerated -- and in many cases delightfully loopy -- "arguments"
> coming out of exactly the opposite sets of mouths.
>
> 3) Upset by the result of any election that was too close to
> measure with certainty? Don't blow your coat. Sit back and drink
> in the show of clever people on both sides doing their darndest to
> mangle the mathematics. It is a cogno-intellectual spectacle worth
> savoring.
> * * *
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-08 Sentence of Death: Scolasticism
>
> Our SENTENCE OF DEATH Contest is alive and well, and back after a
> long absence. This month's entry was shipped here by investigator
> Alistair McCulloch:
>
> The scolasticism (sic) of the great corpus of
> European philosophy must be de-escalated in favour of
> transparency of ideas that allow for the participation
> of the average intellect in the substance of the discourse
> as an adjunct to action in the everyday world.
> -- Adrian Atkinson, Principles of Political Ecology,
> 1991, Belhaven Press, London, p.44.
>
> Investigator McCullogh gamely offers this attempt at
> interpretation:
> I think what the author is calling for is for writers to
> keep what they are saying simple so that the average person
> in the street can understand....but I'm not really sure...
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-09 The Truth About Beauty
>
> Here are ugly results of Scientific Survey #406. It concerned the
> conjecture by the poet John Keats that:
>
> "Beauty is truth, truth beauty ..."
>
> The survey asked: Do you (a) agree or (b) disagree?
> At also asked: If you disagree, then what is beauty if not truth?
> Or what is truth if not beauty?
>
> Here are the results:
>
> 32% AGREE
> 58% DISAGREE
> 07% BOTH
> 03% NO
>
> The responses were, in truth, not very beautiful. We present only
> one of them. It demonstrates, if nothing else, that truth can be
> stunning:
>
> "My sister-in-law is a beautiful woman, but she is so false that
> I do not believe Keats was right."
> --Pietro Cavalli
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-10 The Young Turk: a Detective Story
>
> Investigators H. Zaman and Bruce Goatly each sent us the same
> citation:
>
> "Structural and Functional Aspects of Papain-Like Cysteine
> Proteinases And Their Protein Inhibitors," B. Turk, V. Turk, and
> D. Turk, Biological Chemistry, vol. 378, nos. 3-4, March-April
> 1997, pp. 141-50.
>
> Zamand and Goatly both raise the same question: Which is the young
> Turk? The authors are at the J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana,
> Slovenia.
>
> If you happen to KNOW which is the young Turk, or if you have done
> the requisite detective work and thusly KNOW which it is, please
> let us know.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-11 The Y2K Nostalgia Club
>
> We've been receiving letters from people who miss the excitement
> of the Y2K watch. Many sufferers ask that we form a support group.
> We might be willing to do that, if we understood what it is we'd
> be supporting, or even why, let alone how. In the meantime, rest
> assured, Y2K nostalgia sufferers, that you would have our sympathy
> if we had any.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-12 Cavalcade of HotAIR: Bare Skin, $$, Peruvian Truckers
>
> Here are concise, incomplete, flighty mentions of some of the
> features we've posted on HotAIR since last month's mini-AIR came
> out. You can get to all of them by clicking on "WHAT'S NEW" at the
> web site, or by going to:
> <http://www.improbable.com/navstrip/whatsnew.html>;
>
> AIRHEAD TECH NOTES:, a curious missive we received, which seems to
> claim that, just maybe, Water Prevents Dehydration.
>
> RESEARCH QUESTION -- Cold Bodies, An Inquiry into Human Physiology
> (with lurid photos)
>
> STATISTICS LESSON -- Fat, Money, Correlation, Causality
>
> MAY WE RECOMMEND -- Several of the citations that first appeared
> in the "AIRhead Research Review" and "AIRhead Medical Review"
> columns of the AIR, such as:
> <> "Machismo in Motion: The Ethos of Peruvian Truckers"
> <> "We All Make Mistakes""
> <> "Heterosis and Hybrid Performance in Topless Faba Beans"
> <> "Pseudostupidity: a Study in Masochistic Exhibitionism"
>
> POSTAL EXPERIMENTS -- Jeff Van Bueren's landmark paper, originally
> published in AIR 6:4, and now posted on the AIR web site as a
> public service
>
> THESE, AND MORE, ARE ON HOTAIR AT
> <http://www.improbable.com/navstrip/whatsnew.html>;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-13 Project AIRhead 2000: Beast, Fan, Ball
>
> ITEM 49491 (submitted by investigator Pete Kaiser)
> STEEL DRAGON 2000, claimed to be the world's
> biggest, fastest, and longest roller coaster, located in the
> Nagashima Spaland amusement park in Japan.
>
> ITEM 6833 (submitted by investigator Ron Josephson)
> WhisperWind 2000, a ceiling fan made by Hunter.
>
> ITEM 52833 (submitted by Rodney Ray)
> TOP FLITE 2000 XL, a golf ball.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-14 Postal Frights
>
> The US Postal Service (USPS) has announced that it is about to
> announce higher postage rates for periodicals. Possibly this is
> USPS's reaction to the aforementioned landmark article "Postal
> Experiments," which was published in AIR vol. 6, no. 4.
>
> In case you missed that article, we have now posted it on the AIR
> web site, at
> <http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/postal-6-4.html>;
>
> Most likely, the postal increase will be substantial, and if so we
> will need to raise, at least slightly, the cost of a subscription
> to AIR. This frightening fact may be as good an excuse as any for
> you to at last treat yourself to a subscription to the magnificent
> magazine, the Annals of Improbable Research. (For details, see
> Section 2000-12-17 below)
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-15 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Holiday Research
>
> Here are further selections from our vast collection of items that
> inexplicably have 2000 as part of their name.
>
> RAMADAN RESEARCH
> "Irritability During the Month of Ramadan," N. Kadri, A. Tilane,
> M. El Batal, Y. Taltit, S.M. Tahiri, and D. Moussaoui,
> Psychosomatic Medicine, vol. 62, no. 2, March-April 2000, pp. 280-
> 5. (Thanks to F. Harper for bringing this to our attention.) The
> authors explain their work:
> We hypothesized that people in Morocco are more irritable
> during the month of Ramadan than during the rest
> of the year.... RESULTS: Irritability was significantly
> higher in smokers than in nonsmokers before the beginning
> of Ramadan. It was higher in both groups during the Ramadan
> month. Irritability increased continuously during Ramadan
> and reached its peak at the end of the month.
>
> CHRISTMAS RESEARCH
> "Eye Damage from Christmas Trees," D.J. Brazier, Lancet, vol. 2,
> no. 8415, December 8, 1984, p. 1335. (Thanks to Reto Schneider for
> bringing this to our attention.)
>
> HANUKKAH RESEARCH
> "Jewish Holiday Hazards," G. Solomon, Journal of Family Practice,
> vol. 42, no. 1, January 1996, p. 84. (Thanks to Paulina Trefill
> for bringing this to our attention.)
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-16 AIRhead Events
>
> ==> For details and updates see <http://www.improbable.com>;
> ==> Want to host an event? <marca@chem2.harvard.edu> 617-491-4437.
>
> UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY SUN, DEC 10
> 7:00 PM, Valley Life Sciences Building
> AIR Editor Marc Abrahams will present the latest on improbable
> research and the Ig Nobel Prizes. Event sponsored by National
> Center for Science Education and the Bay Area Skeptics.
> INFO: Eugenie Scott <scott@natcenscied.org> 510-526-1674
> <http://www.ncseweb.org/meeting.asp>;
>
> INTERNATIONAL ELECTRON DEVICES MEETING, SAN FRANCISCO TUES, DEC 12
> AIR editor MARC ABRAHAMS will ruin lunch by discussing the Ig
> Nobel Prizes and the current state of improbable research.
> INFO: Mark Law <law@tec.ufl.edu> (352) 392-6459
>
> ANNUAL IG NOBEL BROADCAST, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO DATE TBA
> *** The broadcast was originally scheduled for Nov 24 --
> *** However, it was pre-empted by NPR news coverage of
> *** the US national election
> *** When we know the revised schedule, we will
> *** post it here.
> Broadcast of recording of the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony,
> on NPR's "Science Friday with Ira Flatow" program.
> INFO: <http://www.sciencefriday.com/>;
>
> MCGILL UNIV., MONTREAL TBA
> Date, time, etc. TBA
>
> ROCHESTER (NY) MUSEUM & SCIENCE CENTER WED, JAN 24, 2001
> 7:30 pm. AIR Editor MARC ABRAHAMS will present the latest on
> "Improbable
> Research, the Ig Nobel Prizes, and Aha!-Ha-Ha Moments in Science."
> INFO: Paul Porell <paul_porell@rmsc.org> 716-271-4552 x 363
>
> STANFORD UNIVERSITY WED, FEB 14, 2001
> Valentine's Day improbable research gala with:
> <> AIR editor MARC ABRAHAMS
> <> "How to Quantify Failure" author MARTIN J. MURPHY
> <> "UFOs & Internal Combustion Engines" author SCOTT SANDFORD
> <> "Postal Experiments" author JEFF VAN BUEREN
> <> "Structured Procrastination" author JOHN PERRY
> <> and other surpris(ing) personages
> Further details TBA.
> INFO: Michele Armstrong <michelea@leland.Stanford.EDU>
>
> AAAS ANNUAL MEETING, SAN FRANCISCO FRI, FEB 16, 2001
> Details TBA. AIR's annual session as part of the annual meeting of
> the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
> Participants will include:
> <> AIR editor MARC ABRAHAMS
> <> "How to Quantify Failure" author MARTIN J. MURPHY
> <> "UFOs & Internal Combustion Engines" author SCOTT SANDFORD
> <> "Postal Experiments" author JEFF VAN BUEREN
> <> "Structured Procrastination" author JOHN PERRY
> <> and other surpris(ing) personages
> Further details TBA.
>
> SAS/ACS SPECIAL JOINT MEETING, PRINCETON, NJ DATE TBA
>
> WEIZMANN INSTITUTE, ISRAEL WEEK OF MAY 13-18, 2001
> Details TBA.
>
> HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM MAY 2001
> Tentatively scheduled. Details TBA.
>
> 11th FIRST ANNUAL IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY THURS, OCT 4, 2001
> Sanders Theatre, Harvard University
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-17 How to Subscribe to AIR (*)
>
> Here's how to subscribe to the magnificent bi-monthly print
> journal The Annals of Improbable Research (the real thing, not
> just the little bits of overflow material you have been reading
> here in mini-AIR).
> ...............................................................
> Name:
> Address:
> Address:
> City and State:
> Zip or postal code:
> Country
> Phone: FAX: E-mail:
> ...............................................................
> SUBSCRIPTIONS (6 issues per year):
> USA 1 yr/$23 2 yrs/$39
> Canada/Mexico 1 yr/$27 US 2 yrs/$45 US
> Overseas 1 yr/$40 US 2 yrs/$70 US
> ...............................................................
> BACK ISSUES are available, too:
> First issue: $8 USA, $11 Canada/Mex, $16 overseas Add'l issues
> purchased at same time: $6 each
> ...............................................................
> Send payment (US bank check, or international money order, or
> Visa, Mastercard or Discover info) to:
> Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
> PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
> 617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927 <air@improbable.com>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-18 Our Address (*)
>
> Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
> PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
> 617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927
>
> EDITORIAL: marca@chem2.harvard.edu
> SUBSCRIPTIONS: air@improbable.com
> WEB SITE: <http://www.improbable.com>;
>
>
> ---------------------------
> 2000-12-19 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
>
> Please distribute copies of mini-AIR (or excerpts!) wherever
> appropriate. The only limitations are: A) Please indicate that the
> material comes from mini-AIR. B) You may NOT distribute mini-AIR
> for commercial purposes.
>
> ------------- mini-AIRheads -------------
> EDITOR: Marc Abrahams (marca@chem2.harvard.edu)
> MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce the last
> few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson <wendy@posh.com>
> WWW EDITOR/GLOBAL VILLAGE IDIOT: Amy Gorin
> (airmaster@improbable.com)
> COMMUTATIVE EDITOR: Stanley Eigen (eigen@neu.edu)
> ASSOCIATIVE EDITOR: Mark Dionne
> DISTRIBUTIVE EDITOR: Robin Pearce
> CO-CONSPIRATORS: Gary Dryfoos, Ernest Ersatz, Craig Haggart, Nicki
> Rohloff
> MAITRE DE COMPUTATION: Jerry Lotto
> AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon
> Glashow, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts
>
> (c) copyright 2000, Annals of Improbable Research
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
> 2000-12-20 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
>
> What you are reading right now is mini-AIR. Mini-AIR is a (free!)
> tiny monthly *supplement* to the bi-monthly print magazine.
> To subscribe, send a brief E-mail message to:
> LISTPROC@AIR.HARVARD.EDU
> The body of your message should contain ONLY the words
> SUBSCRIBE MINI-AIR MARIE CURIE
> (You may substitute your own name for that of Madame Curie.)
> ----------------------------
> To stop subscribing, send the following message: SIGNOFF MINI-AIR
>
>
> ============================================================
>
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
>
--
Pardon me, but you have obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a
damn.
email galt@inconnu.isu.edu
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