Investigator Carol Springs writes to clarify an item in the June issue of mini-AIR:
One point that dozens of others have probably made by now, but just in case:
>> "Ig Nobel Prizes" was a
>> category on the June 1, 2005
>> broadcast of the television program
>> "Jeopardy." Contestants were presented
>> with the following answers:
>> karaoke
>> a car alarm
>> Michael Milken
>> Sun Myung Moon
>> Ron Popeil
These just looked *wrong* somehow. Were contestants supposed to guess the Ig Nobel prize category, or what? Then, when I went to the specified Web site, I realized — these were the *questions*, not the answers! As we all know, the questions come in response to the answers on Jeopardy. The site in, er, question left out the "What is …" and "Who is …" for brevity’s sake.
A little poking around revealed a more coherent page:
http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=357
If you pass your mouse cursor over the prize amount you see the answer, I mean the question.Too bad two locals [contestants who are natives of Massachusetts, where the Ig Nobel Ceremony is held] were stumped on most of these! Clearly they should’ve been attending the ceremonies, as we do nearly every year.