Improbable Research

Five days underwater in a shopping mall swimming pool were enough to get Namik Ekin mentioned in a newspaper (and mentioned here). The May 15, 2005 issue of Turks reports that:

A former Turkish marine stayed underwater for 121 hours and 35 minutes, breaking a world record, on Sunday. Namik Ekin, a former Turkish marine, stayed underwater for 121 hours and 35 minutes, setting a new world record. …
About eating underwater, Ekin said, "Being a former soldier, I used to eat whatever I can find. So I did not have difficulty". He said he missed going to the bathroom when he was underwater, adding
that, "Another difficulty was the tightness of the clothes."

(Thanks to Martin G of OhPurleese for bringing this to our attention.)

The Mirror Project is "a growing community of like-minded individuals who have photographed themselves in all manner of reflective surfaces."

The dead grandmother exam / syndrome is — or rather, should be — in the news. British students, teachers and parents are upset about the official policy concerning what happens when a student’s relative or pet has died just before the student takes an exam. The BBC produced a news story about this on May 8, 2005, and there are many other press accounts.

The dead grandmother exam / syndrome has been notably ignored, for the most part, in the discussion. Mike Adams of Eastern Connecticut State University wrote the definitive analysis of this syndrome. His article, titled "The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome," was published in the November/December 1999 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. (This was a special Education issue.) As Professor Adams puts it:

The basic problem can be stated very simply: A student’s grandmother is far more likely to die suddenly just before the student takes an exam, than at any other time of year.

(Thanks to Leslie Lawrence and Kevin Rhoads for alerting us to the British turmoil.)

Investigative reporter Phil Novak send us further details (with photos) about the newest hard-to-believe exploits of Troy Hurtubise. (Full details of these details (with detailed photos) are in the May 12, 2005 edition of Novak’s publication, Baytoday.ca):

The invention, Hurtubise said, was able to see through walls, detect stealth technology and disable electronics.

But there was a negative side effect to the Angel Light, Hurtubise soon discovered; repeated exposure to the light caused him to lose weight and facial hair, and he suffered a significant downturn to his health.

And although the French government, Hurtubise said, wanted to purchase the Angel Light, he would only agree to do so if he could remove what he called the device?s ?Hyde? effect.

…

But a German physicist who?d became aware of the Angel Light through a BayToday.ca article contacted Hurtubise and offered his assistance.

…

One week after his session under the light, Hurtubise said, the bald spots on his face were replaced with hair, and his weight returned to normal.

?I felt energetic too and was like my old self,? Hurtubise said.

As well, Hurtubise?s hands, which had become arthritic and stiff after hammering pieces of metals thousands of times while constructing his Ursus Mark VII bear suit, resumed their normal function, he said.

…

A family member became Hurtubise?s next test subject. …

There is much to be learned from observing one’s fellow passengers on the underground. Their yawning, their teeth and their sex are especially ripe for analysis. For nearly a year during the mid-1980s, passengers of the B-line of the Rome underground were examined by trained observers, who focused exclusively on those three characteristics….

So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian