This morning, out in cool, damp October mist:
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The 2003 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded on Oct. 2, and it appears to be a bumper crop, well worth investigating, including:
For ENGINEERING: "The late John Paul Stapp, the late Edward A. Murphy, Jr., and George Nichols, for jointly giving birth in 1949 to Murphy's Law, the basic engineering principle that 'If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, someone will do it' (or, in other words: 'If anything can go wrong, it will')."
For PHYSICS: "Jack Harvey, John Culvenor, Warren Payne, Steve Cowley, Michael Lawrance, David Stuart, and Robyn Williams of Australia, for their irresistible report 'An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep over Various Surfaces.'"
For PSYCHOLOGY: "Gian Vittorio Caprara and Claudio Barbaranelli of the University of Rome, and Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University, for their discerning report 'Politicians' Uniquely Simple Personalities.'"
And for ECONOMICS: Karl Schwärzler and the nation of Liechtenstein, for making it possible to rent the entire country for corporate conventions, weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other gatherings."
For all that and more, check out the winners page.
rws 2:49 PM [+]