The kids-are-scared-of-shopping-mall-Santas studies written by 2003 Ig Nobel Literature Prize winner (for publishing nearly 100 academic studies about things that annoy him) John Trinkaus have inspired, directly or indirectly, a new book of photographs called “Scared of Santa: Scenes of Terror in Toyland” by Denise Joyce and Nancy Watkins. Professor Trinkaus’s Santa research includes four […]
Year: 2008
Political Science Lesson: Economy of description
Political scientist BM writes: This headline from a [December 15, 2008] Reuters report tidily sums up the relationship between two of North America’s major nations: “U.S. anti-kidnap expert kidnapped in Mexico“
Research Challenge: Shoe-throwing
Today’s Research Challenge: Can you verify or disprove the following two claims made in a December 15, 2008 Reuters report? The claims: 1. “Throwing shoes at someone is the worst possible insult in the Arab world.” 2. “Al-Zaidi’s shoe is the most famous shoe in the whole world” [said Fawzi Akram, a Turkman lawmaker loyal […]
The gift that’s all wet, emphatically
Still stuck for a good holiday gift for that special someone who has water on the brain? Consider this hoodie, which Skymall describes as follows: Now you too can wear the shirts that Intuitives, Healers, yoga practitioners, Naturopathic Doctors, Reiki Masters, and others in touch with their energy have described as positively bursting with energy! […]
Brigg’s hair/statistics analysis of Gladwell
Statistician William M. Briggs does a top-down analysis of writer Malcolm Gladwell’s success: The best explanation for Malcom Gladwell’s (Blink, Tipping Point) success is provided by the Annals of Improbable Research in its Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. The editors of that esteemed journal posit that “The public loves to see and applaud scientists […]
George Herter, bombasteer
The late George Herter, a self-made improbable quasi-researcher, is celebrated in a December 7, 2008 New York Times essay by Paul Collins: Herter’s magnum opus, though, was “Bull Cook,” a wild mix of recipes, unsourced claims and unhinged philosophy that went through at least 15 editions between 1960 and 1970. Herter claimed one million copies […]
The fallacy of examples: an example
Yes, I am a goat-giver, and proud of it. But— I’ve noticed in business writing in particular the frequency of what we can call the Fallacy of Examples (a type of Fallacy of Hasty Generalization). You read some story about a successful CEO as if we should learn from his (yes, usually it’s a him) […]
Mmmm, yummy … mummies!
Nowadays, powdered mummy may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for many years it was just what the doctor ordered. That’s one of the takeaway messages of Richard Sugg‘s study Good Physic but Bad Food: Early Modern Attitudes to Medicinal Cannibalism and its Suppliers. Sugg is a research fellow in literature and medicine at […]
Good Friday on Drugs (1962)
On Good Friday 1962 researcher Walter Pahnke administered 10 theology mind altering drugs before the church service – with surprising consequences. Even 25 years after the experiment the test subjects – a lot of them became priests – described the Good Friday service of 1962 as one of the high points in their spiritual lives. […]
Lusty, if erroneous, science communication
“Science journals need not be dull,” writes investigator Xiao Bizi, alerting us to a December 9, 2008 report in The Independent newspaper about a German science journal: Science journal mistakenly uses flyer for Macau brothel to illustrate report on China A respected research institute wanted Chinese classical texts to adorn its journal, something beautiful and […]