mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
August 2014, issue number 2014-08. ISSN 1076-500X.
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The monthly wee little tiny mini update/alert from Improbable Research
Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair>
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2014-08-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
2014-08-02 Imminent Events
2014-08-03 In the Magazine: Chewing Gum
2014-08-04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Arm-Wrestling: A Humerus Twist
2014-08-05 The Ig Nobel Ceremony Is Coming
2014-08-06 Screw When Where Limerick Competition
2014-08-07 Puffable Half Product Process Poet
2014-08-08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Crying Assuager, Enjoyable Medical Report
2014-08-09 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Screw versus Bolt
2014-08-10 Improbable Research Events
2014-08-11 — How to Get the Magazine (*)
2014-08-12 — Our Address (*)
2014-08-13 — Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
2014-08-14 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)
Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
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2014-08-02 Imminent Events
á Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA, USA — Sep 5
á TEDMED, Washington, DC, USA — Sep 10-12
á Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony & Webcast — Sep 18
á Ig Informal Lectures — Sep 20
á Book Tour — Late Sep/Oct
Full events schedule at <http://goo.gl/tzwJt>
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2014-08-03 In the Magazine: Chewing Gum
The special Chewing Gum issue (vol. 20, no. 4) of the Annals of Improbable Research is out. Bits of it are online at <http://goo.gl/KlG0hH>:
"Psycho-Dynamics of Chewing" <http://goo.gl/W7mi2M>
"Ig and Beyond: Bees, Fish, Music and Whiskey" <http://goo.gl/GPjk1v>
"Boys Will Be Boys" <http://goo.gl/3kK57p>
Download a FREE E-BOOK ISSUE <http://goo.gl/BMzMw>
Links to all issues: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine>
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2014-08-04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Arm-Wrestling: A Humerus Twist
This month the focus arrives at:
"Arm Wrestling Fractures — A Humerus Twist," J.H. Whitaker, American Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 5, no. 2, March–April 1977, pp. 67–77. <http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/5/2/67.extract> The author reports:
"Competitors engaged in Indian and/or wrist wrestling, a sport receiving increased interest, [are] known to sustain humeral fractures. It is thought that these particular fractures are the result of bending moment, axial compression, and torsional forces applied to the humerus."
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2014-08-05 The Ig Nobel Ceremony Is Coming
The 24th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony:
WHERE: Sanders Theatre, Harvard University (tickets are sold out)
WHEN: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014, 6:00 pm (US eastern time)
WEBCAST LIVE
DETAILS: <http://improbable.com/ig/2014/>
Ten new Ig Nobel Prize winners will be introduced.
Each has done something that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
Genuine Nobel laureates will physically present the prizes.
This year's ceremony theme: FOOD.
The ceremomy includes the premier of a new opera: "What's Eating You"
AUDIENCE DELEGATIONS: If you have a group of five or more ticketholders, and wish to be officially recognized as an audience delegation, please register ASAP: <http://www.improbable.com/ig/2014/#delegations>
WEBCAST-WATCHING PARTIES: If you plan to have a public webcast-watching party, and want us to help spread the word, please get in touch ASAP.
The ceremony will also celebrate the publication of two new books:
"This Is Improbable Too" <http://goo.gl/Ag7jUC>
"The Ig Nobel Cookbook, volume 1"
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Related event:
THE IG INFORMAL LECTURES
WHERE: MIT, room 26-100
WHEN: Saturday, September 20, 1:00 pm.
Free, but seating is limited, so we suggest you arrive early.
DETAILS: <http://www.improbable.com/ig/2014/#informallectures>
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2014-08-06 Screw When Where Limerick Competition
The when and where of screws inspire this month's limerick competition. To enter, compose an original limerick that clarifies the nature of this invention:
"The Helical Tantalum Screw, When and Where To Use It," B. Heinrich, Implantologist, vol. 2, no. 2, 1981, p. 50. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6955275>
Submit your perfectly formed limerick to:
SCREW WHEN WHERE LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
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2014-08-07 Puffable Half Product Process Poet
The judges have chosen a winner for last month's Puffable Half Product Process, which asked for a limerick to honor this study:
"Process for Making a Puffable Half Product," US patent #3150978, granted to Wayne W. Campfield on September 29, 1964. <http://goo.gl/2cS7ou>
The winner is INVESTIGATOR NAN SWIFT, who wrote:
Perfect puffed edible snacks,
Whether boxed or in colorful sacks
Or canned by a canner,
If made in this manner,
Have rather more crinkles than cracks.
And here is the offering from LIMERICK LAUREATE MARTIN EIGER:
Begin with moist dough, which is slack,
But this process explains how to pack.
Next, get some oil,
And let the thing boil.
Voila! It's an edible snack!
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2014-08-08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Crying Assuager, Enjoyable Medical Report
Recent improbable bits you maybe missed:
IMPROBABLE BLOG:
á "Crying Infant Assuager (new patent)" <http://goo.gl/cP7NRT>
á "People who squirm when seeing squirming or non-squirming eel" <http://goo.gl/Zm5eq9>
á "A medical study the entire family can enjoy" <http://goo.gl/JIywtm>
...and MORE, MORe, MOre, More, more at <http://improbable.com>
NEWSPAPER COLUMN (in The Guardian):
á "To deal with climate changeÉ make people smaller" <http://goo.gl/QcHb5J>
IMPROBABLE INNOVATION BLOG (on BetaBoston.com): <http://betaboston.com/improbable-innovation/>
twitter: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
facebook: <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
books: <http://goo.gl/rHMb3t>
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2014-08-09 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Screw versus Bolt
"Is it a Screw — Or is it a Bolt?: An Illustrated Introduction to Fastener Standards," US Customs Service, San Francisco District Media Resource Center, 1992. <http://goo.gl/1m6fJg>
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2014-08-10 Improbable Research Events
For details and additional events, see
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA, USA — Sep 5
TEDMED, Washington, DC, USA — Sep 10-12
Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony — Sep 18
Ig Informal Lectures — Sep 20
Book Tour (NY, DC, elsewhere) — Late Sept/Oct
Porter Sq Books, Cambridge, MA USA — Sept 26
Google, NYC — Oct 1
Google, Boston — Oct 2
Santiago, Chile — Oct 20-22
Northampton, MA, USA — Oct 24
AAAS Annual Meeting, San Jose, CA, USA — Feb, 2015
Ig Nobel Tour of Scandinavia — Mar, 2015
Ig Nobel Tour of the UK — Mar, 2015
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2014-08-11 — 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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<http://www.improbable.com/magazine>
DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK ISSUE: <http://goo.gl/BMzMw>
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2014-08-12 — Our Address (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
(+1) 617-491-4437, FAX: (+1) 617-661-0927
EDITORIAL: <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS: <subscriptions AT improbable.com>
Web Site and blog: <http://www.improbable.com>
Twitter: @ImprobResearch
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2014-08-13 — 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
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Ernest Ersatz, Stephen Drew
PROOFREADER: Ambient Happenstance
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon Glashow, Richard Roberts
Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the
(c) copyright 2014, Annals of Improbable Research
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2014-08-14 — 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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