Fun_People Archive
24 Nov
Bits of mini-AIR Nov. 97

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 97 14:15:52 -0800
To: Fun_People
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Subject: Bits of mini-AIR Nov. 97

Excerpted-from: mini-AIR Nov. 97 -- More on Microbes; Sibling Rivalry, etc.

PLEASE FORWARD/POST AS APPROPRIATE
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1997-11-02	mini-Housekeeping notes

1. IG ON RADIO NOV 28. This year's Ig ceremony will be broadcast (in edited
form) on Nov 28 on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation Science
Friday" program. For details (and an eventual audio archive!) see the SciFri
web site www.sciencefriday.com
...

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1997-11-04	Million Microbe March - UPDATE

The Million Microbe March is drawing heavy political fire. The organizers
are being accused of gender discrimination. The organizers have responded
with the following statement:

	"The Million Microbe March is a gender-free event. The March is both
	anti-discriminatory and anti-disinfectant. The March is organized
	by unicellular individuals for the benefit of all unicellular
	individuals. People of gender (males, females, and the like) already
	have their own events.  It is our deeply held belief that people
	should just say no to sexual reproduction."

(The Million Microbe March is scheduled for December 29, 1997, a crowd of
one million microbes will converge on Bethesda, Maryland.  They will meet
there on the lawn of the National Institutes of Health, and spend the entire
day expressing solidarity, atonement, and genes. For further details, see
last month's mini-AIR.)
	We remind you to please remember the official slogan of the Million
Microbe March:
	Small is beautiful. Small is beautiful. Small is beautiful.


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1997-11-06	The 1997 Ig Winners Update

It has been a busy month for some of this year's new Ig Nobel Prizewinners
(for a complete list of winners, see our web site www.improb.com).

Entomology Prize winner Mark Hostetler appeared on the Tonight Show, where
he helped host Jay Leno and guest Drew Carey identify bug splats.

Physics Prize winner John Bockris sent a letter to Nobel Laureate (and Ig
Nobel Ceremony participant) William Lipscomb. Bockris won his Ig for
wide-ranging achievements including cold fusion and the transmutation of
base elements into gold. He urged that Lipscomb nominate cold fusion
pioneers Pons and Fleischmann for a Nobel Prize.

Medicine Prize winners Carl J. Charnetski and Francis X. Brennan issued a
press release about their discovery that listening to elevator Muzak
stimulates immunoblobulin A (IgA) production, and thus may help prevent the
common cold. Charnetski and Brennan will present their work at the Eastern
Psychological Association Convention, which takes place in Boston on
February 8, 1998.

Peace Prize winner Harold Hillman announced plans for a lecture tour of the
US late next Spring. Hillman, recently retired from the University of
Surrey, England, won his Ig for the lovingly rendered report, "The Possible
Pain Experienced During Execution by Different Methods." It is likely that
one of the events will involve Dr. Hillman officially receiving his Prize
from some of the Nobel Laureates who presided at the recent Ig Ceremony (Dr.
Hillman was unable to attend that ceremony).

We are now accepting nominations for next year's Ig Nobel Prizes.  Please
send your entries to <marca@wilson.harvard.edu>.

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1997-11-13	Porcine Time & Space; Flies Across Germany

Investigator E. Mason informs us that:

a) a pig can run a mile in about 10 minutes; and

b) If the total offspring of a single pair of flies survived to the end of
summer, they would cover an area the size of Germany to a depth of 47 feet.

We would be interested in hearing from anyone with hard data pertaining to
either of these contentions.

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1997-11-19	How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)

What you are reading [an excerpt of] right now is mini-AIR. It is NOT a tiny
version of AIR -- rather, it is overflow from the real magazine.
To subscribe, send a brief E-mail message to:  LISTPROC@AIR.HARVARD.EDU
The body of your message should contain ONLY the words
SUBSCRIBE MINI-AIR MARIE CURIE
(You may substitute your own name for that of Madame Curie.)
To obtain a list of back issues, send this message: INDEX MINI-AIR
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(c) copyright 1997, The Annals of Improbable Research
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