Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 00:49:15 -0800 From: "Crist J . Clark" <cjclark@reflexnet.net> To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: [marca@chem2.harvard.edu: mini-AIR Dec 2000 - Blow Your Coat, Truth, Beauty, Gas] Message-ID: <20001206004915.J99903@149.211.6.64.reflexcom.com>
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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)
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From: Marc Abrahams <marca@chem2.harvard.edu>
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Subject: mini-AIR Dec 2000 - Blow Your Coat, Truth, Beauty, Gas
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================================================================
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 -----
--
Crist J. Clark cjclark@alum.mit.edu
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