MarcAbrahams

MarcAbrahams, 4 days ago (edited 4 days ago) to random

CHALLENGE FOR ASPIRING NOVELISTS — Try, if you can (I bet you can't!) to imagine a fairy tale: The most famous, most swaggering criminal in the land goes on trial for one (well, several) of his many crimes that is also very embarrassing. Then a whole bunch of bigshot politicians from throughout the land flock to the trial to tell reporters that the famous criminal is just a humble saint.

MarcAbrahams, 4 days ago to random

Whistling nearly died out in China "from the Song dynasty (960–1279 AD) to the Jin dynasty (1115–1234 AD)", says new research. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234912-300-beans-beans-do-they-really-make-you-fart-scientists-investigate/

MarcAbrahams, 4 days ago to random

Mourning dead slogans — A very few slogans stand as fading testimony to the good intent of the people who ran a particular organisation. Two of the most outstanding are IBM’s “THINK” and Google’s “Don’t be evil”. Those have both been retired... https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234912-300-beans-beans-do-they-really-make-you-fart-scientists-investigate/

MarcAbrahams, 6 days ago to random

"Thinking through the rationale for the customs we follow is more work than thoughtlessly obeying rules taught in childhood. But it is indeed worth it, assuming you want to actually be a good person rather than have someone assure you that you already are." https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/14/magazine/when-the-generational-divide-comes-to-the-restaurant-table/

MarcAbrahams, 6 days ago to random

It's surprising how few people are hailed as being a "celebrity pathologist", isn't it? https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/pennsylvania/articles/2024-05-13/dr-cyril-wecht-celebrity-pathologist-who-argued-more-than-1-shooter-killed-jfk-dies-at-93

MarcAbrahams, 7 days ago to random

the Dunning of the Dunning-Kruger Effect recently discussed the Dunning-Kruger Effect, (interviewed by Corey Powell, in the Open Mind Podcast) https://improbable.com/2024/05/13/dunning-discusses-dunning-and-kruger/

MarcAbrahams, 8 days ago to random

How the discovery of a nest in a Roman museum caused a kerfuffle https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234901-700-how-the-discovery-of-a-nest-in-a-roman-museum-caused-a-kerfuffle/

MarcAbrahams, 10 days ago to random

"This is consistent with an observation by Charles Spence, a psychologist who heads the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford and has won an Ig-Nobel Prize for research on the links between sound and taste when potato chips are consumed." https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/science/hot-water-sound-cold.html

MarcAbrahams, 11 days ago to random

Howard Zaharoff tells what happened when he (long ago) got to interview one of his heroes. https://www.humortimes.com/119402/my-interview-with-isaac-asimov/

MarcAbrahams, 12 days ago to random

Conversation about the Ig Nobel Prizes and some history and other stuff, on the Lab Matters podcast. https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-2utmi-16087a5

MarcAbrahams, 12 days ago to random

Another headline that — metaphorically or factually — could and maybe should replace a long-running series of attention-robbing "important news" articles: "R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/rfk-jr-brain-health-memory-loss.html

MarcAbrahams, 14 days ago to random

Telling Narcissists They Are Intelligent [research study] https://improbable.com/2024/05/06/telling-narcissists-they-are-intelligent/

MarcAbrahams, 15 days ago to random

The special ANTS & AUNTS issue (volume 30, number 3) of the magazine https://improbable.com/annals-of-improbable-research-may-june-2024-vol-30-number-3/ You can read several of the article free on the web site.

MarcAbrahams, 16 days ago to random

On a walk this morning encountered a suddenly-creepy corner that today has over-friendly bankers on the sidewalk enhorting people to go behind the building and have coffee.

MarcAbrahams, 18 days ago to random

US Senator John F-word Kennedy: "Senator John Kennedy’s profanity-laden rant at Wednesday’s Senate hearing is now being used against him." https://heated.world/p/gop-senator-accidentally-creates

MarcAbrahams, 19 days ago to random

Chung To Kong found a way, in the spirit of unboiling an egg, to make banknotes from shredded banknote pieces.... [And other stuff, too. My col this week in New Scientist] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234891-500-how-to-make-138000-from-shredded-banknotes-if-youre-in-hong-kong/

MarcAbrahams, 19 days ago to random

When you are a noted author you get notable invitations. This one arrived today.

MarcAbrahams, 21 days ago to random

"We pay much attention these days to how dictators come to power, but understanding how they decline and exit –almost always involuntarily—and remembering the disasters they caused to their people and the world is equally important right now." https://lucid.substack.com/p/remembering-mussolinis-fall-the-power?utm_source=substack&publication_id=300941&post_id=144127639&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=2y7i1&triedRedirect=true

MarcAbrahams, 21 days ago to random

Cuteness as soft power [research study] https://improbable.com/2024/04/29/cuteness-as-soft-power/

MarcAbrahams, 21 days ago to random

Yup. This (1) sounds crazy, and (2) it is crazy, and (3) it is true. "As Republicans have embraced unlimited power for the president, they have also turned against the right of American citizens to have a say in their government." https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-28-2024

MarcAbrahams, 23 days ago to random

"It’s difficult! People are a lot more socially adrift than we were before the pandemic. Everyone’s gone a little feral and awkwardness abounds." https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/24/magazine/oversharing-information-on-a-first-date/

MarcAbrahams, 24 days ago to random

"de Waal ... was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences... In 2012, he won an Ig Nobel Prize for a paper he coauthored showing that chimpanzees could match familiar individuals’ faces with their posteriors, suggesting that they had mental representations of their group mates. Consistent with his ability to embrace the humor in everything, Frans loved receiving an Ig Nobel." https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp4966

MarcAbrahams, 24 days ago to random

'The story that I always tell when I speak to groups is about [my book,] "Cats are a Liquid." That is the fastest I have ever gotten an idea, written it down, and sent it to an agent. It was listening to an NPR story about the Ig Nobel prizes' https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/49724/20240426/the-story-spark-a-conversation-with-potsdam-children-s-author-rebecca-donnelly

MarcAbrahams, 25 days ago to random

Faraz Alam sent us a study that he and colleagues at Imperial College London published in 2013 in the journal PLoS One, saying: “Here is the paper where I accidentally made genitalia glow in the dark.” … https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234882-800-the-next-frontier-of-forensic-science-blood-splatter-in-microgravity/