L'Ombre de l'Olivier

The Shadow of the Olive Tree

being the maunderings of an Englishman on the Côte d'Azur

06 October 2006 Blog Home : October 2006 : Permalink

(Ig)Nobel Prize Time

In Europe, the Royal Swedish Academy of Chefs Sciences has been awarding Nobel prizes for nepotism, big bangs etc. In America the Annals of Improbable Research have been awarding Ignobel prizes (Igs) for a variety of research topics:

A device that repels teenagers has won the peace prize at this year's Ig Nobels - the spoof alternative to the rather more sober Nobel prizes.

Welshman Howard Stapleton's device makes a high-pitched noise inaudible to adults but annoying to teenagers. [...]

This year's winners included:

While amusing, the ignobles do have some very worthwhile goals and this year they are offering a 24/7 series of lectures in which the lecturer has to get across the critical information about his topic in firstly 24 seconds and secondly 7 words.
I wish I were there. Unfortunately my trip to Boston will be next week for the far less interesting WiMAX world forum.


I despise l'Escroc and Vile Pin