Improbable Research

Norman Hutchins has been banned from every hospital, according to a report by the BBC, and reports elsewhere, including the pervert-reportage-specializing Mirror.

Gordon Ramel loves insects. He has written poetry, and he is trying to educate a sometimes unappreciative world.

Here is an educational effort that appeared recently on the ENTOMO-L discussion list. Gordon Ramel responded to this inquiry:

FROM: Erin Johnson

I’m working on a television series about entertaining ‘bugs’ (I use the term ‘bugs’ in its loosest possible sense!) and I’m wondering which bugs entomologists find entertaining. Which bugs make you guys laugh out loud?

I’ve heard of people dancing with mantids and getting stick insects to dance to music, but are there other bugs that you can have fun with or that have particularly humorous behaviour?

Erin Johnson
Researcher
NHNZ
Dunedin
New Zealand

http://www.nhnz.tv

Here is Gordon Ramel’s educational reply. (Note that he began by discreetly informing E. Johnson that E does not stand for Erin):

FROM:  Gordon Ramel

Eric,

I hate to say this but the ideas you suggest are ludicrous, and that is being polite.  The world will be much better off without the program you are thinking of making, it is an insult to both nature and humanity, a perfect example of how stupid people can get when they worship money.

Bugs do not make me laugh because unlike people they live in harmony with God and all their actions are beautiful.  What you want to do is plain ugly.

Gordon Ramel

The Earthlife Web

Investigator Wendy Grossman has had an adventure that can be expressed by the equation:

y = skeptic + psychic + television

Investigator Grossman sent us a full report, with the special instruction to "Be sure to follow the link to the original blog entry in first paragraph."

We have been reading strange reports about the celebrated Dr. Henry Heimlich of Heimlich Maneuver fame. A report in the December 8 issue of the Detroit Metro Times is headlined "Off the Deep End."

We ourselves recently  encountered and heartily enjoyed the stirring book "Milk: The Deadly Poison," co-authored glowingly by Dr. Heimlich’s wife, Jane Heimlich.

Ben Goldacre of The Guardian has just announced this year’s crop of Bad Science Award winners. One of our favorites is Dr. Ali ("Britain’s top integrated health expert") of Harley Street, whose eminence and apparent lack of an MD degree have been remarked upon by admirers and passers-by.

(Thanks to Linda Rosa for bringing this to our attention.)