Winners of the Ig® Nobel Prize

 
Every year the Improbable Research gives out Ig Nobel Prizes for some of the most odd and interesting scientific studies around the world. According to their website: "The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology."

I think anything that makes people laugh and think critically at the same time is fantastic. Science research seems dull to those of us who are not scientists. I can't tell you how many times my eyes have glazed over and I've gone into some sort of scientist-droning trance when I have to attend meetings with researchers. It's nice to see that they don't all take themselves and their research so seriously.

Here are a few of my favorites:


CHEMISTRY PRIZE: Makoto Imai, Naoki Urushihata, Hideki Tanemura, Yukinobu Tajima, Hideaki Goto, Koichiro Mizoguchi and Junichi Murakami of JAPAN, for determining the ideal density of airborne wasabi (pungent horseradish) to awaken sleeping people in case of a fire or other emergency, and for applying this knowledge to invent the wasabi alarm.
REFERENCE: US patent application 2010/0308995 A1. Filing date: Feb 5, 2009.
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Makoto Imai, Hideki Tanemura, Yukinobu Tajima, Hideaki Goto, Koichiro Mizoguchi and Junichi Murakami
I can tell you right now, that a wasabi fire alarm would wake me up. It would also make it so that I couldn't see the door through my teary eyes or smell the fire with my runny nose but hey I'd be awake.

LITERATURE PRIZE: John Perry of Stanford University, USA, for his Theory of Structured Procrastination, which says: To be a high achiever, always work on something important, using it as a way to avoid doing something that's even more important.
REFERENCE: "How to Procrastinate and Still Get Things Done," John Perry, Chronicle of Higher Education, February 23, 1996. Later republished elsewhere under the title "Structured Procrastination." < http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~jperry>
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Colleague Deborah Wilkes accepted the prize on behalf of Professor Perry.
I obviously am a master at this. 


MATHEMATICS PRIZE: Dorothy Martin of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1954), Pat Robertson of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1982), Elizabeth Clare Prophet of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1990), Lee Jang Rim of KOREA (who predicted the world would end in 1992), Credonia Mwerinde of UGANDA (who predicted the world would end in 1999), and Harold Camping of the USA (who predicted the world would end on September 6, 1994 and later predicted that the world will end on October 21, 2011), for teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations.  
I'm a librarian; we don't do math. This research taught me that evangelists can't do math either. Elite group or weirdos? You decide.


PEACE PRIZE: Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, LITHUANIA, for demonstrating that the problem of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running them over with an armored tank.
REFERENCE: VIDEO and OFFICIAL CITY INFO
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Arturas Zuokas
 Hahahaha!

Check out all the winners, present and past. Which are your favorites?



Have a great weekend everyone!
Love,
M
photo from Daylife.com

Life just needs to slow the hell down

I've been crazy busy these days. Did ya notice?

Prepare yourself for some serious whining.

There's work: 

I have about 17 irons in the fire and can't seem to pull any out. I want to finish a couple of things before our vacation and I have to meet up with what feels like 800 people. As you all know, I was out of town last week which means that I have a ton of email to catch up on. Ugh! At least I allowed myself yesterday to work from home to get caught up on that. I knew that I was only going to be here for a sum total of 6 working days so I planned meetings and training sessions for every hour I could squeeze in. That means that I'll be going in early and coming home late in order to get any and all paperwork done. It seems that they don't just reimburse travel when you throw your receipts at the executive secretary. She loves me but I don't think she would for very long if I started pulling that stunt. Not including my upcoming travel. And, don't even get me started on my poor grad students.

There's travel:

Too dang much of it. Went to South Carolina then 4 days later flew to Washington DC. I just got back from Washington DC only to go to Austin, the next day. Granted the Austin trip was a two-fer. I did a little work and I did a little play. The play was, I went to a concert at this tiny venue. I love tiny venues. My friend from Bloomington, IN had flown down to Austin just to see Pat Metheny. 

 The guy has got some seriously wild hair. I think it has its own solar systems. Sort of freaked me out really.

She is a huge Pat Metheny fan. Turns out I'm not so much but the ticket was free so I went. Also, did a little shopping. That was fun. Drove home from Austin yesterday morning, worked from home until 6pm, will go into work today and tomorrow, do house stuff on Saturday then drive to Austin again on Sunday. Come back on Monday night work through the week then Yay! Vacation for 10 days. Come back from that and six days later leave for Austin again. That is just part of September and all of October travel. It is a good thing that I'm not a touring rock star because the travel would kill me (of course, my voice would kill an audience so I probably wouldn't travel as much. Killing audiences wouldn't ensure repeat performances. Hmmmm...makes one think.)

The Book and some articles:

I'm working on a few book chapters with a friend. This whole thing is taking some time and we are under a time crunch which doesn't bode well. So it looks like that will be this evenings project. I'm also working on an article that just needs some edits. Hopefully, I can knock those out on Friday.

The house:

It still has boxes sitting around, the refrigerator is empty, I haven't really cooked in a month and it doesn't look like I will for another month, I think the dust bunnies are going to rise up and take over (though JR is trying to vacuum them into submission), I have 4 paintings started and not one damn one finished, which is bugging the crap out of me, we have JR's brother coming in early November and no place for him to hang his hat or any other part of his apparel, oh and I just noticed that we ran out of toilet paper. 

The family:

Sorry guys, you're on your own for awhile. Mama's done stressed out.

Wow! You would think that all that complaining would be cathartic, you'd be wrong. I'm still feeling like I'm going 160 miles per hour and I've just spent an hour writing it all out. I think I'll go huddle in my bed now. Oh wait, I can't do that. I have to go fill out paperwork to get some of the money I've spent back so I can go on vacation because I really need to do that!

I'll try to get around to everyone soon,

Love

M

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

JR likes to read books about presidents and significant individuals from the founding fathers to around the Second World War. He's rather eclectic in his interests. One of his favorites is Franklin Roosevelt. When he found out that there was a new (for him) memorial he just had to go.

This memorial is separated into room-like gardens with statuary mingled around each room. As soon as JR saw it he wished I had been able to be there. I love statuary gardens. 

I'm not the Roosevelt scholar like JR is but I think that a man that makes statements like this was pretty much ahead of his time.

Each room has at least one waterfall. 
According to the National Parks website; "The waterfalls throughout the memorial are there for several reasons. First, they are symbolic of FDR’s connection to and love of water (he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War I). Second, they block out some of the noise from the airport located directly across the Potomac River." 
They are so practical. We put water features at our home because I love the sound of water and I'm a bit of a eastern religion/hippy/zen weirdo because I insist that all our water features be near a door. Keeps out the evil spirits, don't ya know.

He was voted in for an unheard of 4 terms during one of the most difficult times in U.S. history. He presided over the country during WWII and the Great Depression.
 

Where farmers and urban dwellers like were losing their jobs, homes, farms and families. My aunts remember the Great Depression. They still don't eat beans or onions because they ate them so often during the depression. My grandfather dug up his backyard lawn to put in a large vegetable garden in order to feed his family, which he tended until he died in 1973.

Roosevelt's fireside chats became legendary. He used the radio to keep the people of the U.S. informed, to promote his agenda (the New Deal) and to give hope to the citizens.

It would be nice if politicians of today remembered that they have jobs because the American people have trusted them to do the right thing.

 

Roosevelt was stricken with polio. He never walked without aid again. The media respected the privacy of presidents and the American people really were not aware that he had a disability. From the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library;
"On August 10, 1921, FDR developed acute symptoms of poliomyelitis while visiting his summer home on Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada. He was thirty-nine years old. Based on the incubation period of the polio virus, it is believed that FDR most likely was infected while visiting a large Boy Scout encampment at Bear Mountain, New York on July 28, 1921."

 

JR didn't get a very good picture of this statement but what he got resonates today.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

In this day and age the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking and the poor are getting poorer. Politicians, take heed!

I'll stop preaching now.

On top of all that FDR was a dog person.That scores pretty high in my book. "Seven years later the President received a black Scottish terrier puppy as a gift and named him Murray, the Outlaw of Fala Hill. Fala became his constant companion for the rest of his life." FDR Library

That is JR's look at the FDR memorial. He was really impressed and I wish I would have been able to see it with him.

Have a great Monday everyone.

Love,
M

PS: it's Monday so try to make it meatless.

A room with a view

As most of you know, we are in Washington DC right now. I'm here to learn all kinds of interesting things, such as how to teach digital preservation tactics to non-digital preservation people. This is a train-the-trainer event. It has been interesting. I've sort of been brought in as a ringer for the South Central region. I know a lot about digital preservation and about giving training sessions so a lot of this is redundant for me but it is not for the other team members from the South Central region. So my part in this is to help all of them out in setting up and giving workshops within the next year. This will probably require me to travel to exciting places like, Oklahoma City, Lubbock and Shreveport. I know! You are all jealous.

We are staying at a hotel right on Capitol Hill. 2 blocks from the Capitol building. Normally, when I come to Washington DC I stay with my friend Robin or my cousin Pat. I call it an excuse to spend quality time with those that I love. What this really is is that I'm cheap. A metro trip into the city is a ton cheaper than a hotel room in the city. Since the Library of Congress (LOC) is paying for our room I'm taking full advantage of them. 

We are literally right across the street from the LOC James Madison building. Makes it a one block walk for me and JR is enjoying the fact that he is two blocks from the Mall.

This hotel is old but not real old, which it makes a cross between a big box hotel and a boutique hotel. Big box hotel usually equals big room with a king sized bed, fancy amenities and a bar. A boutique hotel usually equals a small room with a double sized bed, very few amenities and no bar. This in-between hotel has a middle sized room with a double sized bed, some amenities, such as fancy soaps and shampoos, a continental breakfast and decent cable, but no bar. 

The one nice thing we have is a view.  

Of the Catholic church. Funny thing about this church. They have a bell that rings on the hour it just doesn't ring the right time. This morning at 7 am the church bell rang 15 times. I counted. Now, if it had rung 15 times at 3pm I could totally say that they are on a 24 hour clock and that would make some kind of sense but 15 times at 7 am makes no sense. 

 

These are the row houses on the street below our room. They can't be more than 14 feet wide which makes me wonder about furniture placement. I bet you were wondering about that also. It seems of critical importance to me. 

These people have rooftop decks. I bet they are the envy of all their neighbors. I envy them now. I want to sit up there, survey all of those domains where I am not the queen of. There are a lot of domains where I am not the queen but I could imagine myself as the queen if I was sitting on one of those rooftops. I have a very active imagination. 

So that is our current lodging. Pretty exciting huh? 

I want to thank my cell phone for taking adequate but not great photographs, the lovely gray weather for keeping the glare down and for reminding me why I never want to move back to Seattle, and reservationist for giving us a top floor room.

Love,
M

PS: sorry I haven't been around to all of your blogs. My travel and work schedule has been and for the next 4 weeks will be awful. I'll try to visit all of you soon.

JR goes to Washington DC

 While I am busy workshopping JR is taking in the sites of Washington DC. 

Let's see a bit of the sites through JR's eyes.

 He checked out the Library of Congress

or as I like to call it

The Mothership

He must have thought the ceilings were cool. 

Well, they are.

He made his way to the National Botanical Gardens

From the amount photos that he took you could tell he is a farmer at heart.

Flowers

More flowers

And even more flowers. 

I'm very glad that he is having a great time. 

Love,

M

Used book stores

Katie and I were scheduled to give a presentation in Columbia, South Carolina this past Monday. 

We did. 

We rocked it.

With all due modesty, our slides were that best of the bunch. Which was all Katie's doing. She made slides that flipped like pages in a book. She had slides with audio embedded. She had slides with video embedded. She had slides with flashy lights and bells and whistles. The girl can make slides!

I just had to stand up there and blabber on about what we have been up to in the past year. Anyone who knows me at all, knows that this is what I do best. Blabber on and on and on. I story tell. Or as my banner says, I baffle with bullshit. What can I say? It's a gift.

So Tuesday morning Katie and I are at loose ends. The presentations that are scheduled for that morning are ones that really don't interest us and the carb-loaded breakfast at the hotel isn't what either of us are wanting eat. Cue, searching on the smart phones for someplace to eat. I find a place that according to customer rankings on Food Spotter looks pretty good and according to Google maps is only 1/2 mile from the hotel. Easily doable. 

NEVER trust Google maps. Turns out the place was 1 mile away. Okay, still doable but not what we were expecting without coffee fueling our systems. We finally get there. The breakfast is good. The coffee is bottomless. All is now right with our world.

At about the same time as we spot the elusive restaurant we spy a used bookstore. Using my persuasive bullshit powers ( I try to only use them for good) I convince Katie that after breakfast we must stop in for a little look-see. One never knows what treasures await in used bookstores (or used anything stores). 

Katie makes the first find. A 4 volume set of opera books for kids. Who knew? Opera is Katie's area of research and these were just unusual enough to pick up. 

While Katie is settling up her purchase I walk into what the owner calls the Rare Book Room and begin poking around. That's when I find this...

Pretty!

An artist portfolio book. I'm intrigued. I open it up to find this...

A booklet with a lot of French words.

I'm more intrigued. 

And confused. 

My French is rusty. 

Okay, my French is very very rusty. 

From what I could get out of it this was a series of lithographs done after the artist's death in 1953.

Then comes the best part. 

These...

10 original mat-framed lithographs in near perfect condition. 

I fall instantly in love with them and send off the following photo-text message to JR:

$275 for a set of first edition lithographs. Can i have them please?

Please!

The next text JR gets is:

Got them for $200.

The bookseller and I cut a deal and I walked out of the store a very happy woman. I never do things like this. Oh sure, I'll buy a piece of art from a street artist or a rare book for $30 but never do I drop $200 without some serious discussion with JR. But, like I said, I fell for these...hard. I knew nothing about the artist, still don't really (I'll do my homework tonight), I didn't know if this was a good deal or not, I just knew that it was a complete set and I loved them. I figured for $20 a piece I could frame them and give them as gifts at the very least. 

Turns out this Raoul Dufy was a famous watercolor painter and his lithographs go for a fair bit of money. The bookseller was able to tell me the provenance of this set which makes them authentic (never a bad thing when talking about art or books).

So all in all, I say that Katie and I had a very good trip. 

What have you all been up to while I've been gone?

Love,

M

Conversations at about 5am

As I've said in the past I get up with JR every morning to make him breakfast. Don't I sound all domestic-like? HA! He does all the laundry.

Anyway, our mornings consist of my making breakfast (thank heavens for automatic coffeemakers because if I had to do that for anytime longer I'd have probably poked my eye out with something very pointy.), pouring coffee and tripping over the pets who are hovering around begging for cheese, milk, or vegetarian breakfast sausage (they love it. JR? Not so much but he eats it.). While JR is busy getting his lunchbox and work paraphernalia together and turning on the computer for me.

I sit with him while he eats, drinking as much coffee as I can (coffee IS consciousnesses in a cup after all) and checking on emails, blogs, and the news. We chat. About things from our day before, night before, day coming up, how great our kids are, how lucky we are because they are healthy and happy and pretty much patting ourselves on the back for being good parents. Though most of the blame back slapping should go to them because they survived us, as parents. Why yes, we do take all the credit! (I'm fairly sure they are thinking about how lucky they are that they escaped us with only minor quirks. Even though the youngest is still here but let's not go there today) JR tells me about the game (turns out it was football) he watched last night. My eyes glaze over.

It is usually a right nice-full time. All peaceful-like. We connect before our day begins. Before life gets in the way. Before traffic and obligations.

And sometimes we have conversations like this:
 
JR: Juan said yesterday that his vacation was in that month that he couldn't pronounce. I said February? He said yeah. I said well that's okay I can't roll my Rs.

Me: I could never do that either.

JR: I think it's like rolling your tongue, some people can and some people can't.

Me: are you saying that rolling your Rs are genetic?

JR: Yes, Yes, I am

Me: are you sure you want to make such a broad statement about genetics this early in the morning?

JR: Sure, why not.

Me: for one thing you know I'm gonna have to call you on it.

JR: Cool. Go ahead.

Me: Okay, if you think you're man enough. First off, it is not statistically possible that everyone that is a native Spanish speaker can roll their tongue but all of them can roll their Rs. Secondly, your brother can roll his Rs but I have no idea if he can roll his tongue or not but you can so there is a strong possibility that he can. Because you share the same genetic make up. He can roll his Rs because he's spent his whole adult life in one Latin American country or another. That makes rolling your Rs a learned behavior. Not one of genetics. So before you start making those sweeping statements know your scientific facts buddy!

JR: Why, the Republican candidates don't.

Are your morning filled with scientific/linguistic diatribes and political zingers?
Or are we just odd?
Wait, I might not want to hear the answer to that last one.

Have a nice weekend everyone. I'm off to South Carolina until Thursday so if you don't see me that's the reason.

Love,
M

Picture Essay - Spin Cycle

This week's Spin is Photo Essay and Gretchen offered up a photo out of her own personal stash for everyone to write an essay about. I took that as a dare. Go read what she wrote...go on, I'll wait. See? It was a dare; wasn't it? Yeah, I thought so.

Here's the photo. Followed by my essay.

After the day that the girls had in the steno pool they really felt that they needed to blow off a little steam. That Mr. Roberts was on a tear again and when he is there is not fast enough shorthand in the world to appease him.

With their fingers aching with cramps the girl popped open a few beers, lit up a few smokes and let down their hair.

Beatrice or Bea to her friends was regaling all the girls with the latest on dit about Gloria in accounting and her new boyfriend. Bea was the fashion plate of the bunch. She was the one that all the other girls looked up to. Her, with her rolled down stockings, pill box hats, and brightly flower tops made all the others feel just a little daring by just being with her, inside she was a huge ball of insecurity but the girl's would never know. She was just to the left of the wild side and a little on the right of tawdry. The others loved her for it.

Janice was the joker. With her unfashionable long dark hair which all the men loved and her bright and bubbly humor, she charmed everyone around her. Using her hair as a mustache, who would think to do that? Janice would, that's who. She's always clowning. The only problem with Janice in the girls eyes was the fact that if you got a couple of beers in her, which was the case tonight, Janice became a little sloppy. Not in a bad way, just in the fact that you had to pour her into bed, way. It amazed the gals that the next morning Janice was once again bright and chipper while they all had sore heads.

Betty, (gawd, how she hated that name, could her mother have named her Elizabeth? No! It was just Betty. Plain ole Betty. Straight up boring Betty, gawd! Did it get any worse?) sat slightly bored or maybe just a little drunk (maybe she shouldn't have indulged in that second beer) watching the antics of Bea and Janice. Her day had been particularly bad. After getting chased around Mr. Thomas's desk by no less than Mr. Thomas, the old goat, she caught a snag in her last pair of hose. This, of course, turned into a major run. At that point, even rolling them down like Bea's wouldn't have worked. Not that she would have rolled them down. She wasn't near as brazen as Bea. While she knew that she would never be a flashy as Bea or as madcap as Janice she was smarter than both of them. It was an acknowledge fact among the group. Betty was smart. How else could she have risen to the rank of steno pool supervisor? Not by getting chased around a desk that's for sure.

Linda and Carol were sisters and as like as two peas in the same pod, even though Linda was the older by 10 months. Linda and Carol had an inside joke about how THAT happened. Anyone seeing their parents would have wondered how they were ever conceived in the first place. That Pop was a sly one. They loved hanging out with the girls after work. Bea and Betty had a place of their own which meant that the girls could kick their heels up without their parents knowing. Their parents were always safely tucked into their bed when the girls rolled in late. Then again their parents must have spent a lot of time in bed considering that Linda and Carol were just 2 of 12 children.

As the evening rolled on Linda and Carol helped slightly sloshed Janice to bed (she was once again crashing at Bea and Betty's place. Really, she might as well move in and help with the rent), walked to the nearest bus stop to catch the #59 to their home, where undoubtedly Mom and Pop were busy making number 13 of their ever growing brood. Just thinking about THAT made them queasy.

Betty (boring Betty, *sigh*) crawled in next to where Janice lay softly snoring, thinking, "why is it that Janice always gets put to bed in my bed? Why not, Bea's? Oh well, at least she doesn't take up much room."
 
Bea locked up the apartment, checked the windows, turned out the lights and went to bed, knowing that the other girls would never realize that for all her panache she was still that insecure little girl.

Good Night.

So there is my Photo Essay. Nothing like killing two birds with one stone. What a horrible adage but it makes my point. I've fulfilled Gretchen's photo essay dare (don't tell me it wasn't, Gretchen) and Jen's Spin Cycle for this week.

Have a lovely day everyone.
Love,
M

I'm calling this a win

New UH Moment



I don't have a double chin. That's a victory in my book.

Love,
M