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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (5339)	10/4/2002 1:11:50 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12247

NYT -- Dubious Science Achievements Hailed. October 3, 2002 Dubious Science Achievements Hailed By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 9:13 p.m. ET BOSTON (AP) -- The definitive study on bellybutton lint, a dog-to-person translation device and an inquiry into what arouses ostriches were recognized Thursday with Ig Nobel prizes for dubious contributions to science and cocktail-party conversations everywhere. The Ig Nobel Prizes, awarded annually at Harvard University as a spoof of the Nobel ceremony, recognize achievements that ``cannot or should not be reproduced.'' ``It's a great honor. It introduces people to the idea that science is fun,'' said Karl Kruszelnicki, a University of Sydney researcher who wrote the paper on bellybutton lint. Kruszelnicki, at his own expense, studied bellybutton lint samples sent to him by 5,000 people. He concluded the lint is a combination of clothing fibers and skin cells that are led to the navel, via body hair, ``as all roads lead to Rome.'' ``Your typical generator of bellybutton lint or fluff is a slightly overweight, middle-aged male with a hairy abdomen,'' Kruszelnicki said. A potentially more practical achievement is a Japanese device that measures the tone of a dog's bark and relays his mood. The device is on the market in Japan, and an English version, called Bow-Lingual, should be ready in about a year. British scientists were honored for research that found that ostriches become more amorous with each other when a human is around. In fact, ostriches eventually start putting the moves on humans. In economics, the executives and auditors at Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and a host of other companies were commended by the Ig Nobel committee ``for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world.'' Actual Nobel Laureates bestow the awards at a raucous ceremony, during which the winners are hailed with cheers and a flurry of paper airplanes. Winners are selected from thousands of nominations by a secret committee. If a recipient feels insulted by the award, it's withdrawn, said Marc Abrahams, editor of the Cambridge-based Annals of Improbable Research, which bestows the award. He said most people are pleased with the prize. ^------ On the Net: Annals of Improbable Research: improbable.com Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company.

To: Neeka who wrote (5339)	10/4/2002 5:07:49 PM
From: Cooters	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12247

M, I didn't want to clog up the Mod Thread(when I can clog up Maurice's), but I wanted to reply to your #77 post. Message 18070409 And this one from Mark. Message 18070742 I'll leave the names and places out, but in the mid-80's this happened in central Illinois, tragically. A young girl from Chicago came down for a wedding in a small town(a few miles from my home town). When she left the wedding, she got lost on the way to her friend's house. She ended up on a country road. Three young men had come up with the idea earlier about putting the light on their car(or truck, I don't recall). She was raped and killed. The details are too horrible to repeat. One of the young men turned state's evidence(how the details came out), the other two were convicted and sentenced to death. Last time I asked they were still on death row, but that was awhile ago. The main aggressor of the three had a rough time in prison. I don't know if there is such a thing as sufficient punishment, but he was punished. Sorry for the sad tale. Cooters