“Danes identify Aalborg bishop’s 300-year-old poo” is the BBC News headline. The report begins: A lump of faeces stored in the back of a Danish museum has been traced back to a bishop who lived in the city of Aalborg at the end of the 17th Century. Researchers discovered the lump in a broken bottle. […]
Tag: England
The Three Dimensions of Fresh Air
The Journal of Material Culture is “concerned with the relationship between artefacts and social relations irrespective of time and place”. And, as part of this remit, the June 2013 issue of features one of the few academic studies of ‘Fresh Air’. ‘The air from outside: Getting to know the world through air practices’. “The article […]
De-apostrophication in Britain
Comes the news, reported by the BBC, that : Apostrophe ban on Devon council’s new street names The apostrophe is being banned from street names in parts of Devon to “avoid potential confusion”. Mid Devon District Council said its new streets had not contained apostrophes for many years, but the policy was now being made […]
Psychology: Importance of a pipe
Today’s Psychology Perception Question: Look at this video of a man describing several activities. In the video [as in the still image here], the man holds a pipe in on hand. The question: Can you tell whether the man’s pipe is lit or not? [UNRELATED NOTE: You will see that, in the video, the man […]
Ig Nobel program premieres Friday night on France 5 TV
A reminder: Quand la Science Fair Rire, a television program about the Ig Nobel Prizes and Ig Nobel Prize winners, premieres on France 5, on Friday night, September 28. Produced by Frederic Lepage and directed by Roland Portiche for Paris-based FL Concepts, this and subsequent episodes will later also be shown on public television networks in […]
Apostrophe Protection Ig Nobellian Admonishes Bookseller
Ig Nobel Prize winner John Richards swung into action against a bookstore chain this week. (Mr. Richards, founder of The Apostrophe Protection Society, was awarded the 2001 Ig Nobel Prize in literature for his efforts to protect, promote, and defend the differences between plural and possessive.) Harry Wallop reports in The Daily Telegraph: Waterstones drops its apostrophe Waterstones, the […]
The wallabies of England
How many wallabies are wandering the wilds of England? Parrott and colleagues assessed the situation in 2008, issuing a study: “The Status of Scarce Non-Native Birds and Mammals in England,” Dave Parrott, S. Roy & M. Fletcher, Central Science Laboratory, December 2008. The authors report that : “Established colonies of wallabies… are known to have […]