Download or read book Ig Nobel Prizes written by Marc Abrahams and published by Orion Publishing Company. This book was released on 2003 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WHAT: The Ig Nobel Prize honours individuals whose achievements in science cannot or should not be reproduced. 10 prizes are given to people who have done remarkably bizarre things in science over the previous year. WHY: The 'Igs' are intended to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative and shine a spotlight onto the weird corners of laboratories around the world. PAST WINNERS: Peter Fong's experiment in which he fed Prozac to clams on the basis that if they chilled out more they'd taste better. Harold Hillman's report on 'The Possible Pain Experienced during Execution by Different Methods'...
Download or read book The Ig Nobel Prizes written by Marc Abrahams and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nobel Prize recognizes the world’s most talented and innovative minds. Unfortunately, not all of the hopeful thinkers and academics around the globe can become Nobel laureates, but some are lucky enough to win the Ig Nobel Prize instead.Drawn from the world’s wackiest actual research, The Ig Nobel Prizesdemonstrates the extreme measures that people will take in the quest for knowledge, and pays tribute to those individuals whose achievements cannot—or should not—be reproduced. Recent Ig Nobel honorees include: • The professor who proved that toast falls buttered side down more often than not • The Southern Baptist Church of Alabama which devised a formula to determine how many Alabamans will go to hell • The founder of the amusement park known as “Stalin World” Featuring these endeavors and many more, The Ig Nobel Prizesis an entertaining exhibition of brains and determination.
Download or read book A History of Murphy s Law written by Nick T. Spark and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2006 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Murphy's Law is one of the most well-recognized statements of philosophy known to man. Tipped off by his next door neighbor that Murphy may have worked at Edwards Air Force Base, and that the Law may have come into being after a rocket sled experiment went awry, author Nick T. Spark beings a Quixotic quest to learn the truth. His attempts to pin down the mysterious origins of The Law and to answer the eternal question, "Who was Murphy and what is the true meaning of Murphy's Law?" are both amusing and relevatory. Read it, and find out why everything you ever thought you knew about Murphy's Law -- is wrong.
Download or read book The Best of Annals of Improbable Research written by Marc Abrahams and published by W. H. Freeman. This book was released on 1997-09-15 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes a humorous look at science and research, discussing studies involving the mickymouse gene, the effects of peanut butter on the rotation of the earth, fifty ways to love your liver, and failure of electric shock treatment for rattlesnake envenomation.
Download or read book The Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results written by George H. Scherr and published by Workman Publishing. This book was released on 1983 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Journal of Irreproducible Results is the magazine that has stood for years as the definitive parody of scholarly and scientific journals everywhere. This anthology collects its greatest moments. Selection of the Library of Science Book and the Book-of-the-Month Science Book clubs. 81,000 copies in print.
Download or read book The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity written by Carlo M. Cipolla and published by Doubleday. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A masterly book" —Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan "A classic" —Simon Kuper, Financial Times An economist explains five laws that confirm our worst fears: stupid people can and do rule the world Throughout history, a powerful force has hindered the growth of human welfare and happiness. It is more powerful than the Mafia or the military. It has global catastrophic effects and can be found anywhere from the world's most powerful boardrooms to your local bar. It is human stupidity. Carlo M. Cipolla, noted professor of economic history at the UC Berkeley, created this vitally important book in order to detect and neutralize its threat. Both hilarious and dead serious, it will leave you better equipped to confront political realities, unreasonable colleagues, or your next dinner with your in-laws. The Laws: 1. Everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals among us. 2. The probability that a certain person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person. 3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person while deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses themselves. 4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. 5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
Download or read book Annals of Improbable Research written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Briefer History of Time written by Eric Schulman and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Big Bang to the evolution of humans and the resignation of Richard Nixon, A Brief History of Time is a highly irreverent, historically entertaining, and scientifically correct overview of the most important cosmic milestones since the beginning of time. From learning how to make a star with Martha Stewart ("I love stars because they provide an opportunity to be so wonderfully creative with such simple ingredients") to a classic potboiler account of the first instance of molecular reproduction ("It was a dark and stormy tide pool"), to the unhappily-ever-after fairy tale of Shelly Shrew and her dinosaur friends ("Once upon a time, on a warm June day about 65 million years ago, while Shelley Shrew was sleeping under a big green leaf on an island near the Yucatan Peninsula in what is now Mexico, a comet hit her on the head and killed her instantly"), Eric Schulman offers readers a whizbang collection of the universe's greatest hits. Unique, funny, and educational, A Brief(er) History of Time is the perfect book for readers who want to know what's been going on for the past 15 billion years, but don't have a lot of time.
Download or read book A Million Random Digits with 100 000 Normal Deviates written by and published by Minnesota Historical Society. This book was released on 2001 with total page 636 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not long after research began at RAND in 1946, the need arose for random numbers that could be used to solve problems of various kinds of experimental probability procedures. These applications, called Monte Carlo methods, required a large supply of random digits and normal deviates of high quality, and the tables presented here were produced to meet those requirements.This book was a product of RAND's pioneering work in computing, as well a testament to the patience and persistence of researchers in the early days of RAND. The tables of random numbers in this book have become a standard reference in engineering and econometrics textbooks and have been widely used in gaming and simulations that employ Monte Carlo trials. Still the largest published source of random digits and normal deviates, the work is routinely used by statisticians, physicists, polltakers, market analysts, lottery administrators, and quality control engineers. A 2001 article in the New York Times on the value of randomness featured the original edition of the book, published in 1955 by the Free Press. The rights have since reverted to RAND, and in this digital age, we thought it appropriate to reissue a new edition of the book in its original format, with a new foreword by Michael D. Rich, RAND's Executive Vice President
Download or read book The Phantom Pattern Problem written by Gary Smith and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-08-18 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patterns in data are often used as evidence, but how can you tell if that evidence is worth believing? The Phantom Pattern Problem helps readers avoid being duped by data, tricked into worthless investing strategies, or scared out of getting vaccinations. Becoming a sceptical consumer of data is important in this age of Big Data.
Download or read book Celebrity written by Chris Rojek and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2004-11-01 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In contemporary society, the cult of celebrity is inescapable. Anyone can be turned into a celebrity, and anything can be made into a celebrity event. Celebrity has become a part of everyday life, a common reference point. But how have people like Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Bill Clinton or Princess Diana impressed themselves so powerfully on the public mind? Do they have unique qualities, or have their images been constructed by the media? And what of the dark side of celebrity – why is the hunger to be in the public eye so great that people are prepared to go to any lengths to achieve it, as numerous mass murderers and serial killers have done. Chris Rojek brings together celebrated figures from the arts, sports, politics and other public spheres, from O.J. Simpson and Marilyn Monroe to Hitler and David Bowie, and touches on many movements and fads, including punk, rock-and-roll and fashion. Rojek analyzes the difference between ascribed celebrity, which derives from bloodline, and achieved celebrity, which follows on from personal achievement - the difference between Princess Margaret and, say, Woody Allen. He also shows how there is no parallel in history to today's ubiquitous "living" form of celebrity, powered by newspapers, PR departments, magazines and electronic mass media.
Download or read book Instantaneous Personal Magnetism written by Edmund Shaftesbury and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book IgNobel Prizes 2 written by Marc Abrahams and published by Orion Media. This book was released on 2005 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ig Nobel Prizes make people laugh, and then make them think. Included in this new edition are: the Dutch scientist who investigated homosexual necrophilia in mallard ducks, the Swedish team that looked into chickens' preferences in humans, and the man who made it possible for someone to rent the entire country of Liechtenstein for corporate events. Sometimes, as in the latter case, Ig Nobel Prizes could not be awarded without the entire nation getting behind the researchers. As before, there is an irresistible blend of serious science and complete incredulity at the way the human quest for knowledge takes us into ever more obscure areas of research.
Download or read book IgNobel Prizes written by Marc Abrahams and published by . This book was released on 2007-08-01 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every year the Nobel Prize is awarded to the leaders in their respective fields. But what recognition is there for the scientific mind who attempted to feed Prozac to clams for sexual purposes? Where are the gongs for the genius who trained pigeons to discriminate between the paintings of Picasso & those of Monet? How about `The Collapse of Toilets in Glasgow¿ & the optimal way to dunk a biscuit? The ¿IgNobel Prizes¿ have changed all that, bestowing their award on the individuals whose achievements `cannot or should not be reproduced¿. And here, from humor magazine the ¿Annals of Improbable Research,¿ comes the story behind these awards -- the research, the award winners, & their sometimes ungracious responses. Illustrations.
Download or read book Unbuilding written by David Macaulay and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1987-10-26 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “In this wonderfully urbane fantasy” the Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator imagines the process of dismantling the Empire State Building (Publishers Weekly). The acclaimed author of City and Pyramid now applies his inquisitive mind and stunningly detailed artwork to one of New York’s most iconic buildings. When the Empire State Building is purchased by an eccentric prince who wants to move it to the Arabian Desert, the intricate process of unbuilding begins. Along the way, Macaulay takes young readers on a tour of the skyscraper’s history and architecture and explains the many feats of engineering that went into its construction. His straightforward, informative text is illustrated with “perhaps the finest series of visually expansive, black-and-white perspective drawings, incisive renderings of the skyscraper and its celebrated ‘views’” (The Washington Post).
Download or read book The Man Who Tried to Clone Himself written by Marc Abrahams and published by Plume Books. This book was released on 2006-09 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A hilarious collection of the world’s most improbable research in the sciences, arts, and humanities The Nobel Prize brings well-deserved recognition to the world’s greatest accomplishments. But for some who are not lucky enough to become Nobel laureates comes the Ig Nobel Prize, which honors the most eccentrically innovative minds and their unique endeavors. Born from the annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony at Harvard University, The Man Who Tried to Clone Himselfis a fresh collection of the unbelievable-but-true achievements that are awarded this prestigious honor, including: * The scientists who discovered that chickens prefer beautiful humans * The entire nation of Liechtenstein, which rents itself out for weddings, bar mitzvahs, or other gatherings * The Norwegian research team that documented the impact of wearing wet underwear in the cold Demonstrating the incredible lengths people will go in the pursuit of knowledge, The Man Who Tried to Clone Himselfis perfect for anyone who wants to laugh and then think.
