Ian Fieggen maintains a compendium of technical knowledge about shoelaces. (Thanks to Mark Dionne for bringing this to our attention.)
Month: September 2005
Eva the head
A brief video about a bodyless robotic head named Eva is available from NASA.
The brush-off brush-on
Kimiko Ryokai has produced a short video demonstrating a splashy — well, spraybrush-y — way to take colors and patterns from almost anything and reproduce them somewhere (if not quite anywhere) else. (Thanks to Ginnie Grallia for bringing this to our attention.)
Leaves of grass — a publishing tale
An obsessive pensioner was surprised to learn he had been published in a leading scientific journal after keeping a diary for the past 20 years of how many times he mows his lawn…. So begins a report in the September 3, 2005 issue of The Daily Telegraph. (Thanks to investigator Kristine Danowski for bringing this […]
…and unaware
A memorable, all-too-entertaining report in the September 28, 2000 issue of the Washington Post elaborates on our earlier observation that sometimes the Ig Nobel Prizes can bring clarity to puzzling events in the news. Here’s a characteristic snippet: Rep. Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican, called Brown’s account of events "feeble," "clueless," "shocking" and "beyond belief." […]
Appreciating Lie Theory
Those who seek truth will find a certain variety of it in The Journal of Lie Theory. (Thanks to Bob O’Hara for bringing this to our attention.)
Murine luxuriant clubbiness?
Investigtor Robert Bendesky writes: Perhaps the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists should start a new chapter: the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Mice.
Bureaucracy Club of Amsterdam
The Bureaucracy Club of Amsterdam has just joined The Bureaucracy Club.
Of nonfictional Harry Potters
Several reports about published reports by and about non-fictional Harry Potters appear in the September/October issue which is the special HARRY POTTER and THE EXPLODING TOADS issue) of the Annals of Improbable Research. Two of these reports appear not just in print, but also online: "Selected Works of Harry Potter" and "Potter: Hairy."
Cherpes on herpes
At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Cherpes does research on herpes. (Thanks to John Arnold for bringing this to our attention.)