mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
November 2013, issue number 2013-11. ISSN 1076-500X.
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Monthly mini update/alert from the Annals of Improbable Research
Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>
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2013-11-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
2013-11-02 Imminent Events
2013-11-03 In the Magazine: Ig Soon, Tolstoys and Rifles Now
2013-11-04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty
2013-11-05 Ceramic Uvula Speaker Limerick Competition
2013-11-06 Fessler on Feet Poet
2013-11-07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Revolving Doors, Washer-Tumbled Legos
2013-11-08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Pedunculation and the Elongated Uvula
2013-11-09 Improbable Research Events
2013-11-10 -- How to Get the Magazine (*)
2013-11-11 -- Our Address (*)
2013-11-12 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
2013-11-13 -- How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)
Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
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2013-11-02 Imminent Events
Ig Nobel broadcast, Science Friday, NPR & the web — Friday, Nov 29
Spread the word, please! The Science Friday radio program will broadcast its specially edited recording of the 2013 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. It's SciFriÕs 22nd annual broadcast (SciFri began this day-after-Thanksgiving tradition in 1992). <http://www.sciencefriday.com/about/how-to-listen.html>
Full events schedule at <http://goo.gl/tzwJt>
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2013-11-03 In the Magazine: Ig Soon, Tolstoys and Rifles Now
The special Ig Nobel issue of the Annals of Improbable Research is in prep.
Portions of the special Tolstoys & Rifles issue (vol. 19, no. 5) are online at <http://goo.gl/qAuogp>:
Download a FREE E-BOOK ISSUE <http://goo.gl/BMzMw>
All issues of the magazine <http://www.improbable.com/magazine>
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2013-11-04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty
This month's research spotlights both uvulopalatopharyngoplasty and a fatal game of cards:
"Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. One-year Followup," W. Conway, S. Fujita, F. Zorick, J. Sicklesteel, T. Roehrs, R. Wittig, and T. Roth, CHEST Journal, vol. 88, no. 3 (1985): 385-387. <http://goo.gl/rbHl2T> The authors, at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michican, report:
"One patient died due to myocardial infarction while playing cards."
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2013-11-05 Ceramic Uvula Speaker Limerick Competition
Ceramics and the uvula inspire this month's limerick competition. To enter, compose an original limerick that illuminates the nature of this patent:
"Ceramic Uvula Speaker," Canadian patent application 2733321A1, by Mira Yung, filed Feb 28, 2011. <http://goo.gl/rbHl2T> The patent document serves up this simple description:
"A speaker design mimicking the uvula expressively and acts as a stop point for the speaker component."
Send your limerick to:
CERAMIC UVULA SPEAKER COMPETITION
c/o <marca@improbable.com>
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2013-11-06 Fessler on Feet Poet
The judges have chosen a winner for last month's Fessler on Feet Limerick Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor the study:
ÒSex Differences in Relative Foot Length and Perceived Attractiveness of Female Feet: Relationships Among Anthropometry, Physique, and Preference Ratings,Ó Martin Voracek, Maryanne L. Fisher, Barbara Rupp, Deanna Lucas, and Daniel M.T. Fessler. <http://goo.gl/7SjqfV>
The winning poet is SHEILA BLUME, who wrote:
We prefer, whether lawyer or wrestler,
Any big-footed guy (so says Fessler),
While a woman whose feet
Are petite neednÕt cheat,
Beating all that compete, as a nestler.
From LIMERICK LAUREATE MARTIN EIGER:
Women, both short ones and tall,
Look better with feet that are small.
But we like when the size
Is larger for guys.
For their feet, to be sure. Is that all?
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2013-11-07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Revolving Doors, Washer-Tumbled Legos
Recent improbable bits you maybe missed:
IMPROBABLE BLOG:
<> Revolving doors – an examination (appreciating Laurier, part 4 of 4)
<http://goo.gl/nCx6oq>
<> A converter "which appeals to peopleÕs habits for using the toilet"
<http://goo.gl/0MkHrq>
<> A washing machine filled with Legos and applied mathematics
<http://goo.gl/tDXK0t>
MORE, MORe, MOre, More, more at <http://improbable.com>
NEWSPAPER COLUMN:
<> They Seek a Language for Cheese <http://goo.gl/OUhH3c>
twitter: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
facebook: <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
book: <http://goo.gl/rHMb3t>
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2013-11-08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Pedunculation and the Elongated Uvula
WHY, UVULA?
"Why Do We Have a Uvula?: Literature Review and a New Theory," G.W. Back, S. Nadig, S. Uppal and A.P. Coatesworth, Clinical Otolaryngology and Allied Sciences, vol. 29, no. 6, 2004, pp. 689-693. <http://goo.gl/NB6UfH> The authors are at York District Hospital, UK.
PEDUNCULATION AND THE ELONGATED UVULA
"Specimen of a Pedunculated Growth on an Elongated Uvula," Herbert Tilley, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, April 7, 1911, pp. 107-8. <http://goo.gl/WV4IwD> The author reports:
"The uvula measured nearly 1 in. in length, and from its lower end hung a pedunculated growth."
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2013-11-09 Improbable Research Events
For details and additional events, see
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>
Ig Nobel broadcast, Science Friday, NPR — Nov 29, 2013
ARISIA, Boston, USA — Jan, 2014
AAAS Annual Meeting, Chicago, USA — Feb 15, 2014
Ig Nobel Tour of Scandinavia — Mar, 2014
Ig Nobel Tour of the UK — Mar, 2014
Dublin, Ireland — Mar, 2014
USA Sci & Eng Fest, Washington, DC — Apr 24, 2014
NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, USA — Apr 25, 2014
Imperial College London Festival, UK — May, 2014
ESOF, Copenhagen, Denmark — Jun, 2014
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2013-11-10 -- How to Get the Magazine (*)
The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine. (It's much bigger and better than the little bits in this newsletter.)
We produce each issue as an e-book, as well as on traditional paper.
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DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK ISSUE: <http://goo.gl/BMzMw>
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2013-11-11 -- Our Address (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
(+1) 617-491-4437, FAX: (+1) 617-661-0927
EDITORIAL: <marca@improbable.com>
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Web Site and blog: <http://www.improbable.com>
Twitter: @ImprobResearch
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2013-11-12 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
Please distribute copies of mini-AIR (or excerpts!) wherever appropriate. The only limitations are: A) Please indicate that the material comes from mini-AIR. B) You may NOT distribute mini-AIR for commercial purposes.
------------- mini-AIRheads -------------
EDITOR: Marc Abrahams
MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce the last
few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Ernest Ersatz, Stephen Drew
MAITRE DE COMPUTATION: Jerry Lotto
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon Glashow, Richard Roberts
Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the
(c) copyright 2013, Annals of Improbable Research
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2013-11-13 -- How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)
Mini-AIR is a (free!) teeny-tiny monthly *supplement* to the actual six-times-a-year magazine AIR.
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