A new study can fuel old arguments and grievances about how other people should go about parking their cars. The study is: “Parallel Parking Vehicle Alignment Strategies,” Benjy Marks and Emily Moylan, Findings, March 2022. (Thanks to Kurt Verkest for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney, […]
Tag: efficiency
How to trim a tree
This video demonstrates an efficient way to trim a tree: (Thanks to Vaughn Tan for bringing this to our attention.)
Anti-productivity productivity: How to spay a cat fast
The veterinarian and blogger known as The Dog Zombie writes about a skilled colleague: The key to high volume spay/neuter is, obviously, speed. She can spay a cat in seven minutes.
On the efficiency of the new Italian Senate
Undiscouraged by history, the winners of the 2010 Ig Nobel Prize for management have applied their methods to try to make sense of the current state of Italian national politics. Their new study is: “On the efficiency of the new Italian Senate and the role of 5 Star Movement: Comparison among different possible scenarios by […]
Robust goodness from random promotions
There’s new, corroborating research that organizations become more efficient when they promote people randomly. The University of Catania team that won the 2010 Ig Nobel Prize in management for the original, mathematical work, has published a new study: “Efficient Promotion Strategies in Hierarchical Organizations,” Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, Cesare Garofalo, arXiv:1102.2837v2. “the efficiency of an […]
Math: Advantage of selecting politicians randomly
The Italian research team that received an Ig Nobel Prize in 2010 for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random has extended its work (as well as gained some team members). Their new study is: “Accidental Politicians: How Randomly Selected Legislators Can Improve Parliament Efficiency“, A. Pluchino, C. […]