Numbers can be many things to many people. They can be Happy, Unhappy, Evil, or Odious. Perhaps now’s time to turn to Weird numbers (like 70) “A weird number is a number n for which σ(n)>2n and such that n is not a sum of distinct proper divisors of n.” Here is Dr. Giuseppe Melfi, professor at the University […]
Tag: weird
Ig Nobel Prize winners supply two of the ten “weirdest” TED Talk moments
The TED Blog lists “The 10 weirdest things that have happened in TED Talks“. Two of those “weirdest things” involve Ig Nobel Prize winners. Kees Moeliker was awarded the 2003 Ig Nobel Prize for biology, for documenting the first scientifically recorded case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck. Here’s what TED Blog says: 3. The story of a man and […]
“Weird Coincidence” and Respect for Psychiatrists
Is it only coincidence that (1) much of the public suspects that psychiatrists rely on funny-kooky-hahaha theories; and that (2) a noted psychiatric journal suggests that “weird coincidences” tend to have deep mental significance? Here are two articles from that journal: “This Issue: Coincidence Studies,” Bernard D. Beitman, MD, Psychiatric Annals, Volume 41, Number 12, DECEMBER 2011. […]
WEIRD people proposal
The Weirdest People in the World? Authors: Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine and Ara Norenzayan [all of whom are pictured here] Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior in the world’s top journals based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Researchers—often implicitly—assume that either […]