Improbable Research

Today, Halloween, is a good time to take another look at the Halloween Research Review — both part 1 and part 2.

Beetles? Hawks.

Psychologist Robin Abrahams sends in this behavioral observation:

A change in one part of your life — in my case, adopting a
dog — can lead you to see all sorts of things in new
ways. Watching the news coverage of Harriet Miers’
nomination to the Supreme Court, I
was struck by the fact that Bush looked at her, during
the press conference, exactly the same way I look at
my dog Milo when he is out in public — an approving yet
intensely watchful gaze. For her part, Miers kept
glancing at Bush, exactly as Milo looks back at me
when I am walking him on his leash — a series of
constant visual checks to make sure that he is doing
what I want him to. (Watch video of that event — with the sound turned off! — and you can see what I mean. You can find it on, among other places, the CSPAN web site, dated October 3, 2005)

As Jane Siberry sang, "Everything Reminds Me of My Dog."

The Annals of Improbable Research receives a large number of submissions, most of which we have to decline to publish. Recently, Jon Singer submitted an article, and we rejected it. Singer’s gracious response is eloquent. We publish it here with his permission:

Hmmm. I wrote it up to read as a goof, but in fact I really did put my finger in my eye within two minutes after rubbing a real habanero pepper into it (the finger, that is), twice, and the work is entirely real.

I do see what you mean, though. The humor is rather geeky. I suppose I could make it just a serious paper, but I suspect that even fewer folks would get the humor inherent in that approach.

Oh, well…

"Study at West Penn Hospital Shows Chewing Gum after Laparoscopic Surgery Shortens Hospital Stay" is the headline on an October 17, 2005 press release issued by Western Pennsylvania Hospital, in Pittsburgh. Here are further details:

For patients undergoing laparoscopic colon resection, chewing gum routinely administered in the immediate postoperative period results in an earlier discharge home…. Patients at three major hospital systems in Pennsylvania and Texas were randomized into two groups. One group, the control group, received standard fair [sic] after abdominal surgery - sips of clear liquids. Members of the other group, the study group, were also given gum to chew at meal time. Those who received gum to chew met criteria for discharge and went home on average one day sooner than those without gum….

"Something as simple as chewing gum can help make that a reality.”

When asked why he thinks it works, Dr. McCormick replied, “There are a few scientific theories which attempt to explain why this approach works."

1968 was a good year for the readers of Old Bottle Magazine.

Investigator Earle E. Spamer writes:

In the "AIR Vents" section of the July-August 2002 issue of AIR , Ronald Perch, D.M.D. of Sebastopol, CA, complained that he suspected his semi-annual patient, "Stefan," of pilfering the latest issues of  AIR from the doctor’s waiting room. Dr. Perch stood his ground, reporting, "I am going to try an experiment and tack the price of a year’s subscription to AIR to his next bill. I will  report the results to you."  I am awaiting those results.

Bryan B Fuller is the world’s top expert on skin colour in human foreskins. Professor Fuller’s foreskin research is based at the University of Oklahoma, where he is an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. A research paper he co-authored with four colleagues in 1990 is the most-cited study on the topic. …

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

Investigator Robert E. Dale, who alerted us to the seminar on Manufacturing meaning in the chicken commodity chain" (see item from two days ago), sent us an update:

Well, I did make it to the seminar, and actually it was quite serious and informative. I did chat with Peter Jackson afterwards, and he told me that this esoteric title was as nothing compared with many in the social science area (as I’m sure you are peculiarly aware).

Some of the preliminary statistics he gave were quite extraordinary, I thought: growing cycle (to 4lbs) reduced from 12 weeks in the 60’s to 6 weeks now; 885M chickens slaughtered in the UK in 2004; UK retail sales in 2002 amounted to £2.75B. The study was via some 30-40 or so recorded interviews ("life-history" interviews) with workers in the supply chain, from hatcheries to upper management. The final general take home message seemed to be: "Food is probably safer today than 30 years ago, but the biggest issue and change in marketing is that (the striving by the super-markets for) food safety is now being replaced by (striving for) customer trust."

When a lottery goes pffffffffffhhhht it goes goes pffffffffffhhhht.

(Thanks to Jean Tenso and Ilkka Poutanen for bringing this to our attention.)

Elizabeth Eaves offers a lesson in the basic economics of luxury purchases (and in particular, stripping), in the October 25 issue of the New York Times:

Does Christian Dior "overcharge" when it sells a handbag for
$13,000? That depends on how you look at it. If you see the handbag as
a few pieces of stitched leather, the price is grossly inflated. If you
see it as a source of heady self-worth - a passport to an exclusive
club - then it’s hard to say what price would be too high.

This
is the economic logic relied on by purveyors of luxury goods. It’s not
about the utility of the product. It’s about making the customer feel
as if he has arrived.

Strip clubs, particularly high-end ones
like Scores, provide a luxury service. That $3,000 price tag on a
bottle of Champagne isn’t just for the beverage; it’s part of the price
of the experience….

Chuck Bueter and his colleagues loft the paper plate to new heights in the history of multi-purpose education tools.

Investigator Robert E. Dale of King’s College London passed on to us an invitation that was passed on to him, and which we now pass on to you:

All College staff are welcome to attend a seminar on "Manufacturing
meaning in the chicken commodity chain" to be given by Dr. Peter
Jackson, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield.

The Seminar will take place on Wednesday 26th October, from 2.00-4.00pm
and will be held in the Geography Department, Room 102N, Norfolk
Building, Strand campus.

This is part of a Seminar Series Sponsored by Kingís College, London,
Department of Geography and ESRC-AHRC Cultures of Consumption Research
Programme "Consuming Space(s) and Place(s): Placing Consumption in
Perspective"

Discovery Channel Canada’s "Daily Planet" show conducted interviews with winners and audience members at this year’s Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. Their video report is now online (follow the link, and then click on "Not your typical science award").

An Ig Nobel Prize winner is planning to split into four pieces, according to news accounts. The Associated Press reports (today, October 24) that:

Cendant Corp., the $20 billion-a-year company that owns the Orbitz travel Web site and several hotel and real-estate brands, will split itself into four separate public companies, the conglomerate said Monday…. "We and our advisers believe the sum of the parts has a value in excess of our current share price," company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Henry R. Silverman said in a news release.

Cendant was a co-winner of the 2002 Ig Nobel Economics Prize. The official citation explains that the prize was awarded to:

The executives, corporate directors, and auditors of Enron, Lernaut & Hauspie, Adelphia, Bank of Commerce and Credit International, Cendant, CMS Energy, Duke Energy, Dynegy, Gazprom, Global Crossing, HIH Insurance, Informix, Kmart, Maxwell Communications, McKessonHBOC, Merrill Lynch, Merck, Peregrine Systems, Qwest Communications, Reliant Resources, Rent-Way, Rite Aid, Sunbeam, Tyco, Waste Management, WorldCom, Xerox, and Arthur Andersen, for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world.