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2006 Ig Nobel Prizes Awarded
davidwr writes "The Ig-Nobel Peace Prize went to Howard Stapleton for his groundbreaking research in teenager-repellent technology. D. Lynn Halpern won an award for research into why fingernails on a chalkboard are almost as annoying as teenagers. Ivan Schwab garnered his award for research into avian headacheology. Two french researchers cooked up a medal for spaghetti research. Read more about these and other prizes here and at the Improbable Research official web site. To those Slashdotters who were expecting an award, better luck next year."
I thought my death clock would win this time... Maybe if I make a Smelloscope...
His research, published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, followed studies of head injuries in woodpeckers from the 1970s. The answer lies in how a woodpecker's skull and brain are arranged: the muscles around the sensitive brain tissues make the woodpecker's head function like a perfect shock absorber.
shouldn't that be Ornithology?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
electronic teenager repellant: -1, Troll
work on the mystery of why fingernails being dragged down a blackboard produces an excruciating sound: -1, Stupid
how woodpeckers avoid headaches: +1, Interesting
why dry spaghetti breaks into more than one piece when it is bent: -1, Lame
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
The winner of the medicine prize got it for ground breaking research into curing intractible hiccups by sticking his finger up a patient's anus.
He also suggests that sex is the most potent cure for hiccups, but that won't really affect anyone on slashdot.
At Bathurst subway/streetcar/bus station in Toronto, they play classical (well, baroque actually) music on the PA to keep teenagers away. It seems to work quite well, actually. It's only at that station, and since classical music is only annoying to teens (at least to the point of forcing them from the building) it doesn't trouble other patrons. One caveat: if you (like me) are one of those Classical Punks- who follow their own rules, and wear all the lead-based makeup and penny loafers they want- it doesn't work.
Why is it something that could be offensive (like sex and violence in movies) is generally regarded as bad, whereas something designed solely to be offensive (The Mosquito) is regarded as a good thing?
Mr Stapleton deserves the Ig Nobel.
"Live as if you'll die tomorrow." Ridiculous. You could die later today.
Don't miss the list of previous winners. It's full of hilarious and sometimes interesting stuff.
chalkboard
Is this a politicly correct blackboard or something?
But, isn't that what DRM has always stood for?
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
A Dutch group won the IgNobel for their work on malaria mosquitos and limburg cheese. In a more serious experiment, they found the smell of feet is one of the main attractions to malaria mosquitos. They then tried Limburg Cheese because it smells, well, like feet.
They are one of the leading institutes in mosquito research in the world.
Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
+5 priceless
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
What's next, Peace Prize for the nuclear bomb? They certainly bring peace...
There was this guy named Bertrand Russell.
At the end of World War 2 when the 'allies' had the nuke and the Soviets didn't, he advocated a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the Soviet Union.
As soon as the Soviets developed their own nukes, he became an anti-nuclear peace activist.
For him, it was all down to game theory.
So yeah in a sense nukes may brought peace -- if the Soviets hadn't developed them, Eastern Europe and Russia would quite possibly have been nuked into submission. I think that would have been less 'peaceful' than the cold war.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Okay - I'm 30 with averagehearing for my age, so it isn't going to affect me. But it still seems a little unfair to ignore noise poluution if it only affects teenagers - most of whom are not doing any harm, and just want to hang around with mates. Do noise pollution laws only apply if they affect adults?
So how do we solve it? Nobody is going to listen to a bunch of kids. Could simply disable it. Nobody would know. Any other ways to deal with it?
I don't know what happened to the news-story link, I know it was there when I submitted it. Anyhow, Google News has many more stories to choose from.
:).
The Improbable Results site I linked is very slow due to media attention. I'm sure Slashdot didn't help
Here's a Coral Cache version of the Improbable Results website and the list of present and past winners.
If Coral doesn't work, here's a MirrorDot version of the Improbable Results main page.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
you realize he won an ig-nobel prize. It's the booby prize of science.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Since when are Peace Prizes given out to people who invent phyological/sonic/whateveryouwanttocallit weapons?
If the teenager-repellent were designed to exterminate teenagers, you'd have a point. But it isn't. It's just designed to persuade them to go somewhere where they don't annoy people. It's not a weapon of any kind.
You do understand the difference between insecticide and mosquito repellent, don't you?
Close:
"Nobel's inventions including dynamite and Ballistite led to the death of millions of people, so he created the Nobel Prizes in an effort to make up for these perceived evils."
from wiki.
Since when are Peace Prizes given out to people who invent phyological/sonic/whateveryouwanttocallit weapons??
If I were awarded a Nobel Peace Prize I would consider it a public embaressment. Have you checked out a list of the winners?
On the other hand, the igNobel Peace Prize is supposed to be a public embaressment.
KFG
I often find a good way to find out the truth about something is to put a statement online in public which is which is definitely wrong, then wait for somebody to correct you :)
qntm.org
-ouge hole whas the answer to DRM.
FRA: STFU GTFO
If someone intentionally plays high pitched unbearable sounds in attempt to "repel" me like a friggin insect, I'd feel compelled to put some earplugs on and come wreck his shop with my friends.
That's the kind of peace we're talking.
Send in a pair of Army recruiters.
Works like a champ.
What?