This being (more or less, depending on your school) the start of a new school year, it’s time to glance, again, at the AIR teachers’ guide. This guide also appears in each and every issue of the Annals of Improbable Research.
Month: September 2005
Weather as a Force Multiplier
"Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025" is the title of a nine-year-old U.S. Air Force "research paper" that says: In 2025, US aerospace forces can ‘own the weather’ by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war-fighting applications. Such a capability offers the war fighter tools to […]
Joyce, Kafka, and modern technology
Investigator Sally Shelton writes: There is now an animated version of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Between this and the children’s book version (which I do have) of Kafka’s "Metamorphosis," it’s all unbelievable.
Disturbing VCR headline
To most people, the acronym VCR means "video cassette recorder." Thus some people found it disturbing to see a press release with this headline: "VCR — First Transplant in Europe"
The Pacific Northwest tree octopus
Intelligent design may be the best explanation for the existence of the Pacific Northwest tree octopus.
Last names
There is a name for people who study names. They are onomasticians. Onomastics is their game. Old onomasticians are not forgotten. Not all of them, anyway. The American Name Society maintains a list called "Who Was Who in North American Name Study". Nearly 40 of the fallen are remembered with essays. They come across as […]