2006 Ig Nobel Prizes Awarded 167
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."
Aww... (Score:5, Funny)
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That sound has never really done anything to me, but the feeling of chalk dust on my fingers has always given me the chills -- so violently so, that I'll get a secondary/sympathetic reaction just from seeing someone else getting chalk all over their hands. So there's a bleed-over effect
bird eyes? (Score:5, Informative)
shouldn't that be Ornithology?
Re:bird eyes? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:bird eyes? (Score:5, Informative)
time to use my mod points! (Score:3, Funny)
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
Re:time to use my mod points! (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfair mod. Should be +5 fucking brilliant.
Now, if we can just herf all those thumpmobiles
Re:time to use my mod points! (Score:5, Funny)
Give it five years, and you'll be wondering how you can possibly get along without one.
Re:time to use my mod points! (Score:5, Insightful)
Apparently someone doesn't know how interesting this problem is. Feynman spent a lot of time on it. It's much, much harder than, say, showing that a tall, skinny brick structure will break 1/3 of the way up from the ground if it's slowly tipped to one side (or if a demolition charge makes it crumble). Though that research certainly isn't Nobel-winning stuff, it's a remarkably difficult problem with a lot of applications (including, methinks, applications to space-station engineering and probably nanostructures).
Re:time to use my mod points! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:time to use my mod points! (Score:5, Funny)
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I am approaching 40 and can hear all the way to the 20KHz border. I know at least 5-10 more people who have comparable or better hearing after the age of 35.
So from my perspective both the ring and the repellent are flawed day one. None of them works as advertised.
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At 30, I alone among my mates can hear the high pitched whine of a 50 Hz television set, which is fucking annoying. It drives me nuts whenever a TV is on in the vicinity. This is in spite of having gone to way too many loud rock concerts
Another reason to leave the pub when they put a soccer game on. Needless to say I don't own a TV, which is a blessing in more ways than one.
By the way, does anyone know what frequency that'll be for a Norwegian set?
I can't seem to find it through Google.
Those are low frequencies, not highs (Score:2)
There's one problem. GP was talking about the highest frequencies that can be heard, which uses a variety of hairs that vibrate in response to specific frequencies; whichever section of hair vibrates is harmonic with the sound coming in (think demodulator).
However, the subwoofers play near the lowest frequencies that can be heard. Thes
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Getting replies like these... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:time to use my mod points! (Score:5, Funny)
No, it really works! I've seen no electronic teenagers round here...
Sorry.
Re:time to use my mod points! (Score:5, Funny)
You seem to miss the significance of that research. Note that the article mentioned the physics Nobel price for big bang research. This spaghetti research is of course very related to the question of how the universe was created. After all, we know it was created by the FSM, and surely bending and breaking spaghetti was an integral part of the act of creation.
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Oh ye unbelievers. When will you glean the insight that is of the Great Green Arkleseizure. You are so close, but miss the real insight. This research is useful to determining the origin of the universe. Yet more specifically it is important in that this research will reveal the l
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You might have picked up on this if you had actually read the comment like you were supposed to before replying to it.
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Worst experiment ever!
No mention for Digital Rectal Massage? (Score:5, Funny)
He also suggests that sex is the most potent cure for hiccups, but that won't really affect anyone on slashdot.
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Re:No mention for Digital Rectal Massage? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:No mention for Digital Rectal Massage? (Score:5, Funny)
But... (Score:3, Funny)
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In what room does your wii belong? Hint: It's not the lounge.
New tag: digitalrectalmassage (Score:2)
They always said the anal (Score:4, Funny)
Digital? (Score:1)
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This would work best!
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Only if you're really small.
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Another, slightly less awkward way to stimulate the vagal system is to press hard in the soft spots beneath the ears; this is how I normally cure my hiccups (2-3 bouts weekly, since I was about 20).
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[hic]
-It's not what you think.
[hic]
-It's not what you think.
[hic]
-It's not...oh the hell with it, gimme my tab.
rj
Another teenager repellant (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Another teenager repellant (Score:4, Insightful)
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the teenagers who hang around on the street either - they don't have anywhere else to go.
Translation: they're too stupid or unimaginative to think of anywhere else to go, or anything to do except "hang around on the street".
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Hanging around in the street isn't indicative of a lack of imagination. Many a rapper, breakdancer or graffiti artist learned their trade doing just that.
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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
There's an even better one in NZ (Score:2)
In Whangarei, a New Zealand town, they do it by playing continuous Barry Manilow music [tvnz.co.nz], 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Personally I think it's a wonder the local retailers get any customers at all.
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rj
Rodent repellent (Score:2)
The biggest problem with these high-pitched noises is that they're non-directional. It's *very* difficult
The answer: ageism (Score:5, Insightful)
Mr Stapleton deserves the Ig Nobel.
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On the other hand, if I were the sort of teenager who hangs around street corners, and I were annoyed by a thing like this, I would think smashing it with a brick would be my first line of defence.
Re:The answer: ageism (Score:4, Interesting)
I first experienced it more than 40 years ago; so I'm not sure why it's news now. Drove me fucking nuts. Store that used it is now bankrupt and a parking lot.
KFG
Peace Prize? (Score:2)
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Re:Peace Prize? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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RTFA (Score:3, Funny)
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?
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"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.
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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
Teller won an igNobel... (Score:2)
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rj
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Prior to dynamite, nitroglycerin was the only explosive with enough brisance to break rock, and hard-rock miners died like flies using it. Dynamite is essentially stabilized nitroglycerin, and it was revolutionary as an indu
Don't miss the past winners. (Score:3, Interesting)
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PC? (Score:4, Funny)
Is this a politicly correct blackboard or something?
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"Blackboard" and "whiteboard" are nearly meaningless terms. I like "chalkboard" (as a term, I hate the boards), but I have no idea what to call "whiteboards".
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Limburg Cheese experiment (Score:4, Interesting)
They are one of the leading institutes in mosquito research in the world.
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The only thing is that you do not want to keep it in your fridge at home. I store it in the shed in the garden, packed in several plastic bags, and I will put the packaging outside rather than in the kitchen bin. Because the smell is legendary for a reason...
Great.. (Score:2, Informative)
Either way bad invention and even worse for
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Dealing with the mosquito... (Score:2, Insightful)
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?
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And if they're used on me, I'm calling the police.
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It's an interesting question actually - in the UK at least, you're generally not allowed to make as much noise as you like at your home/business. Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act, and all that. The fact that only some people can hear the noise does presumably not excuse it from being subject to the law. So the mosquito is probably illegal in England and Wales, or at least the teenagers affected could report the business owners for the violation and have
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As far as I understand, a bunch of kids hanging around the store is the problem. I'm not defending the noise, but I'm not defending the kids either. I don't believe they have any right to hang out at the store.
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I guess ear plugs would do the trick. Headphones may work too - many of the people in that age group have those readily available with their iPods.
Also it occured to me that maybe there are useful applications, too. Maybe this could be used to prevent little kids to approach areas which are dangerous to them, while not obstructing access to maintenance personnel. Could be handy for a farmer with lots of machinery and a few small children.
Links to stories botched and slashdotted (Score:3, Informative)
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 [nyud.net] website and the list of present and past winners [nyud.net].
If Coral doesn't work, here's a MirrorDot [mirrordot.org] version of the Improbable Results main page.
That's some peace (Score:3, Interesting)
That's the kind of peace we're talking.
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Wha ha ha ha ha ha! *sniff*
I invite you to test this theory. Let me know how that works out for you. :-)
and then ... (Score:2)
The Quickest Way to Clear Out the Mall: (Score:4, Funny)
Send in a pair of Army recruiters.
Works like a champ.
That finger thing... (Score:2)
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Guess again. I'm not even from their country, so I really don't care about their politics. You are the first person I've ever heard describe that particular tabloid rag as "high-brow."
Then again, most of my exposure to them has been via their technology section. Perhaps other parts of the paper are better-written. This particula