Swaggering could be of importance when one has to perform a root canal procedure. This patent shows one way to introduce—and guarantee—that swaggering will be part of the fun: “Swaggering endodontic instruments,” US patent 8454361 granted June 4, 2013 to Michael J. Scianamblo [pictured here]. The patent document explains: “Endodontic instruments are described which have […]
Ig Nobel winner David Dunning surveys recent research about incompetent people
Ig Nobel Prize-winning Cornell psychology professor David Dunning — he of the Dunning-Kruger effect — tells the majestic story of incompetent people, in this essay in Pacific Standard: We Are All Confident Idiots BY DAVID DUNNING • October 27, 2014 • 4:00 AM The trouble with ignorance is that it feels so much like expertise. […]
Pop music: extant and market taxonomized
Pop music – does it really exist? Yes it does. For a statistical analysis, see: Does pop music exist? Hierarchical structure in phonographic markets by Andrzej Buda of the Uniwesytet Jagielloński w Krakowie, Poland, and reproduced in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Volume 391, Issue 21, 1 November 2012, Pages 5153–5159 “I find […]
Dr. Schwab explains why woodpeckers don’t get headaches
Dr. Ivan Schwab explains why woodpeckers don’t get headaches, in this Discovery Channel video: He explains it in more detail, in this TEDx Talk: Dr. Schwab, of the University of California Davis, and the late Philip R.A. May of the University of California Los Angeles, were awarded the 2006 Ig Nobel Prize for ornithology, for exploring […]