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The mini-Annals of Improbable Research
("mini-AIR")
June 2009, Issue number 2009-06. ISSN 1076-500X.
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Free monthly update/alert from the Annals of Improbable
Research
This
issue is at
<http://www.improbable.com/airchives/miniair/2009/mini2009-06.htm>
Archive
at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>
Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel,
AIR, the
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2009-06-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
2009-06-02 In the Magazine: Accounting, Accounting,
Accounting
2009-06-03 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Pop-Eye Magnitude Detection
2009-06-04 RESEARCH PINLIGHT: Pop-Eye Phenomenon
2009-06-05 RESEARCH GASLIGHT: Namely, Oculodigital
2009-06-06 Where to Buy Plutonium
2009-06-07 Bands for Biomedical Researchers: Saliva
2009-06-08 Ig Nobel Delegations - advance word
2009-06-09 Apple Brain Poet
2009-06-10 Spent Mushroom Compost Odorous Component
Competition
2009-06-11 MORE IMPROBABLE: Armed Birds, Dangling Doofus
2009-06-12 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Yippee (two types)
2009-06-13 Improbable Research Events
2009-06-14 -- How to Subscribe to AIR (*)
2009-06-15 -- Our Address (*)
2009-06-16 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
2009-06-17 -- How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
Items
marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
mini-AIR
is
but
a wee monthly *supplement*
to
the bi-monthly magazine Annals of Improbable Research
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2009-06-02 In the Magazine: Accounting, Accounting,
Accounting
The special Accounting issue (vol. 15, no. 3) of the
Annals of
Improbable Research is online at
<http://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume15/v15i3/AIR15-3_LoRes-40dpi.pdf>.
Obtain it as you like:
A) Download the free low-res PDF; or
B) get a spiffy hi-res PDF; or
C) subscribe the tactile, comfy paper edition
Highlights include:
<> Great Adventures in Accounting
<> A Crusade Against the Quest for the Holy Grail
<> The Public Erection of G.S. Brindley
Many other back issues, too, are online at
<http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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2009-06-03 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Pop-Eye Magnitude
Detection
This month the spotlight is on an attempt to measure the
magnitude of pop-eyes, and to do so reliably and to a
degree that
is useful and perhaps also interesting. The study is:
"Estimating Eyeball Protrusion From Body Height,
Interpupillary
Distance, and Inter-Orbital Distance in Adults,"
L.K. Swan and
C.N. Stephan, Journal of Forensic Sciences, vol. 50, no.
4, July
2005, pp. 777-84. <http://tinyurl.com/mxhkkr>
The authors, at the University of Adelaide, Australia,
report:
"Some authors have suggested that relationships
between
exophthalmos, height, interpupillary distance, and
interorbital
distance exist and it has been reported that these latter
variables can be used to estimate eyeball projection.
However,
crucial tests are yet to be conducted. This study
measures these
variables and tests the accuracy of exophthalmometry
means, a
previously proposed prediction equation, and newly
derived
regression equations to determine which methods provide
the best
results."
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2009-06-04 RESEARCH PINLIGHT: Pop-Eye Phenomenon
Pop-eye enthusiasts have few published pop-eye-related
reports
(other than the mostly unrelated literature devoted to
the
cartoon character Popeye) to choose from. One can always
begin
with:
"The Pop Eye Phenomenon: An Extreme Form of the
Oculodigital
Phenomenon," A.M. Mansour and R.D. Reinecke, Journal
of Clinical
Neuro-Ophthalmology, vol. 5, no. 4, December 1985, pp.
281-2.
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2009-06-05 RESEARCH GASLIGHT: Namely, Oculodigital
Pop-eye nomenclature skeptics with broader interest -
broad to
the point of including all forms of oculodigital
phenomena -
write reports, too. One of the earliest:
"The So-Called Oculodigital Phenomenon and a Few
Other Motoric
Manifestations" [article in German], K. Muller,
Monatsschrift fŸr
Kinderheilkunde, vol. 103, no. 4, April 1955, pp. 219-21.
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2009-06-06 Where to Buy Plutonium
Chemist Fiona Barclay visited a London shop that
advertises
plutonium. This raises some questions. Details of the
visit are
at
<http://improbable.com/2009/06/16/guardian-column-161/>
The main question is whether that shop offers the best
price
available for the casual consumer of plutonium.
If you find advertisement for a better deal, please send
us the
details and we will publish them, perhaps, here next
month.
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2009-06-07 Bands for Biomedical Researchers: Saliva
This month's featured band for biomedical researchers is
Saliva.
The band is a favorite in some labs that do research on
and with
saliva. It is not a favorite in other labs that do
research on
and with saliva.
Other science-related tidbits about Saliva:
1. Their song "Click Click Boom" is a favorite
in some labs (and
not just of the biomedical variety) that reliably produce
a high
number of daily clicks, clicks, and booms.
2. The song was included in the adventure/extreme ski
movie "Cold
Fusion."
3. The band was not named for E.A. Asen's 1978 monograph
"Phosphorylation of Proline-Rich, Double Band,
Acidic and Post-Pb
Proteins of Human Saliva" (which was published in
Archives of
Oral Biology, vol. 23, no. 12.)
4. The band was also not named for G. Todorov and V.
Nedeva's
1993 study "Changes in Electrolyte Excretion in the
Saliva of
8th-Grade Students of a Music School in Sofia"
(which was
published, in Bulgarian, in Problemi na Khigienata, vol.
18).
(Thanks to investigator Neil Gussman for bringing Saliva
to our
attention.)
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2009-06-08 Ig Nobel Delegations - advance word
At the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, some audience members choose
to
come in slightly, quasi-organized theme delegations. Each
delegation register with us ahead of time is officially
introduced during the ceremony.
The members of the Glorious Texan Delegation, who will be
journeying from Text to Cambridge, Massachusetts for the
October
1 ceremony, are looking for additional Texans or honorary
Texans
to become part of their delegation.
If you would like to join that delegation, or would like
help in
coordinating your own theme delegation (on whatever theme
you
like), please get in touch with us.
Tickets for the ceremony will go on sale August 1.
This year's theme: RISK.
The ceremony web page is:
<http://improbable.com/ig/2009/>
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2009-06-09 Apple Brain Poet
The judges have chosen a winner in the Apple Braining
Limerick
Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor the
study
"Automatic Effects of Brand Exposure on Motivated
Behavior: How
Apple Makes You 'Think Different,'" Gr‡inne M.
Fitzsimons, Tanya
l. Chartrand, Gavan j. Fitzsimons, Journal of Consumer
Behavior,
vol. 35, no. 1, June 2008, pp. 21-35.
<http://tinyurl.com/pvw38y>
The winner is INVESTIGATOR TIM POSTON, who wrote:
"I thought of an Apple," said Eve,
"And now I no longer believe
In
following orders
Or
staying in borders --
So throw wide the Gates, and let's leave."
Here's the offering from LIMERICK LAUREATE MARTIN EIGER:
These limericks drove me to drink.
I wrote on PCs, and they stink.
But
now, though, my crap'll,
Composed
on an Apple,
Be better. Like this one. Ya think?
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2009-06-10 Spent Mushroom Compost Odorous Component
Competition
Odorous components in spent mushroom compost and the
amelioration
thereof is the subject of this month's limerick
competition. To
enter, compose an original limerick that illuminates the
nature
of this report:
"Amelioration of Odorous Components in Spent
Mushroom Compost,"
Russell Bazemore, et al., Journal of Agricultural and
Food
Chemistry, vol. 48, no. 8, 2000, pp. 3694-697.
<http://tinyurl.com/mtdbuy> The authors are at the
Monell
Chemical Senses Center and at the University of
Pennsylvania.
RULES: Please make sure that: (1) your rhymes actually
do; and
(2) your poem is in classic, trills-off-the-tongue
limerick form.
PRIZE: The winning poet will receive (if we manage to
send it to
the correct address) a free, possibly mushroomy, high-res
PDF
issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Send entries
(one
entry per entrant) to:
SPENT
MUSHROOM COMPOST ODOR LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o
<marca AT chem2.harvard.edu>
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2009-06-11 MORE IMPROBABLE: Armed Birds, Dangling Doofus
New Improbable Video:
<> "Powdered Mummy" <http://improbable.com/tv/>
Blog items <http://improbable.com/>
<> Sex is main cause of population growth
<> Gazprom: Ig Nobel winner reveals corporate
anthem
<> Armed bird photos
<> Neuticles news: more sizes
<> Escher design tattoos
<> Engineering report - Angel, the dangling doofus
And many more...
Newspaper columns <http://tinyurl.com/6o348d>
<> Cat food, dog food, and thou
<> Go Suck (Tasty) Eggs
<> England, birthplace of the sick joke
New LFHCfS (Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists)
members:
<http://improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/>
<> Anna Barrett
<> Olivia Guest
<> Spouse-prompted withdrawal
<> Amanda Wibley-Brown and Heather Alger
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2009-06-12 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Yippee (two types)
YIPPEE 1
"A Multidisciplinary Study of the 'Yips' Phenomenon
in Golf: An
exploratory Analysis," A.M. Smith, et al., Sports
Medicine, vol.
30, no. 6, December 2000, pp. 423-37.
<http://tinyurl.com/nydwx5>
YIPPEE 2
"Measuring the Psychosocial Impact of Urinary
Incontinence: the
York Incontinence Perceptions Scale (YIPS)," P.S.
Lee, et al.,
Journal of the American Geriatric Society, vol. 43, no.
11,
November 1995, pp. 1275-8.
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cger.2004.04.009>
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2009-06-13 Improbable Research Events
For details and additional events, see
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>
Ig Nobel Ceremony Tickets go on sale - Aug 1, 2009
Temple Israel, Boston -
Aug 24, 2009
Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, Harvard Univ - Oct 1, 2009
Ig Informal Lectures, MIT -
Oct 3, 2009
Genoa Science Festival -
Oct 24, 2009
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2009-06-14 -- How to Subscribe to AIR (*)
The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year
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2009-06-15 -- Our Address (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927
EDITORIAL: marca AT chem2.harvard.edu
SUBSCRIPTIONS: subscriptions AT improbable.com
WEB SITE: <http://www.improbable.com>
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2009-06-16 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
Please distribute copies of mini-AIR (or excerpts!)
wherever
appropriate. The only limitations are: A) Please indicate
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AIR for commercial purposes.
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mini-AIRheads -------------
EDITOR: Marc Abrahams
MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce
the last
few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson
COMMUTATIVE EDITOR: Stanley Eigen
ASSOCIATIVE EDITOR: Mark Dionne
PSYCHOLOGY EDITOR: Robin Abrahams
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos,
Ernest
Ersatz, S. Drew
MAITRE DE COMPUTATION: Jerry Lotto
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach,
Sheldon
Glashow, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts
(c) copyright 2009, Annals of Improbable Research
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2009-06-17 -- How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
What you are reading right now is mini-AIR. Mini-AIR is a
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